Glitch
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: Gone is gone... until a glitch kicks in. (Diverges from canon plot after chapter 591)
1. Prolog

_Disclaimer – I don't own Bleach._

**Glitch  
_Prolog_**

Rain to the Kurosaki family represented pain, so Isshin refused to look up at the window pain that was dripping wet. The child patient he was taking care of couldn't help but see the rain and pointed a finger at the window. "Play?"

The doctor looked up at the window, frowning as he did so. Masaki had died on a day when it rained, but that wasn't the real reason he hated the rain. The element of water represented his brother Kaien and he found himself thinking specifically of his brother when it rained. The girls reminded him of Masaki, Ichigo reminded him of Kaien. There were plenty of happy memories with Masaki and no bad ones, but with Kaien there were bad ones to go with the good.

Shaking his head to get rid of the depressing thoughts he finished up his duties in the clinic and locked up. It was still raining and he headed to where dinner was being made by Yuzu. The little girl looked up at him. "Daddy?'

"What is it sweet heart?"

"I forgot something that I need to finish dinner. Could you please go and get it for me?"

The man took a deep breath before heading out, grabbing his umbrella. His zampaktuo spirit... which had woken up when the seal on Ichigo ended up broken, couldn't help but gab. "_You know Kaien isn't dead, right?_"

"_You know as well as I that he is. He is..._" Isshin paused. "_I can't very well deny what news I've gotten from Soul Society. I'm glad Rukia's not made a connection, or she would be apologizing to me just like I heard she did to Kukaku._"

"C_ome on fool... you're denying something that is true. For some reason you know your twin brother is alive,, just like each of you could sense each others element just as you could sense your own. He's alive._"

"_Rukia apparently killed him during the Winter War. He's finally at peace._"

"_Yes... that's what you want to believe._"

Isshin took a deep breath, continuing to walk. He stopped short, some strange feeling coming over him. The war had ended and his son was out cold in his upstairs room, explaining why Yuzu forgot to go to the store to get something. Something though was nagging him as he looked down the dark alley way. He made to turn away, only to find himself stopping short, a sudden familiar feeling overwhelming him.

He slunk into the alley way, feeling the spiritual pressure as he did so. He stopped short as lighting suddenly flashed, dropping his umbrella as he saw that persons face. His heart skipped a beat, almost as if he hadn't been expecting to eve r see that person again. "_No... I wasn't._"

"_Yes you were. You were just in serious denial._"

Isshin's hand reached down into his pants pocket and before he even had it to his ear he was dialing a number. He stopped short when he heard a groan and the lighting flashed. This time the person was looking at him his eyes focused on his face. "Isshin..." Isshin of course couldn't speak. "... so you're alive like I thought."

"And you're alive like I thought."

"Exactly what is that supposed to mean?"

"What is the last thing you remember?" Isshin decided it was best to finish dialing the number. "Urahara. I have a problem."

Lighting flashed again and he saw the look of irritation on the other persons face. "I'm a problem?"

"No." Isshin sighed. "Your problem is my problem."

"_Isshin... who are you talking too._"

"Someone who is supposed to be dead, but I never could believe that he was." Isshin paused. "Kind of like how he could never believe I was dead.'

"_Well... that is a dilemma. Tell me what the two of you need. I'll arrange it._" Isshin told the man what he needed while he continued to look at the man. When he asked why this happened Urahara's words were simply that it was a glitch in the system.


	2. Funeral

**Funeral**

Two pale eyes looked over the room adorned with black curtains. Two feminine arms crossed against an ample chest as the woman they belonged to. The woman swallowed, trying to hold back the feeling she felt as she looked over the room. Everything was still raw and the smallest thing seemed to twist the pain in. Rangiku could control her emotions, but she knew after _the_ event she would be bawling her head off to Nanao as well as drinking a lot of sake. She couldn't though lose it in front of everyone, as she needed to put on a strong face.

At the front of the room was a large shrine and on this shrine was a picture of a child. The child had beautiful bright teal eyes that were narrowed in annoyance. Rangiku wished she had been able to find a picture where he had been more child like with his eyes, but hadn't been able to find one in time. The child also had beautiful white hair that cascaded down in front of his eyes. For those who didn't recognize the Shinigami outfit they might assume that the child was dressed for some kind of family photo, but truth of the matter was this child never knew his real family.

Near the picture was a bowl with incense sticks smoking as per the tradition. There was also the usual bowl of rice that was given to the dead in remembrance as well as some objects as well. To the left of the picture was a vase filled with the flower of the division as well as the flower for the thirteenth division. To the right were two toys that were hand carved with a great deal of care. One was a traditional top and the other was a whistle done in the shape of a dragon.

These items seemed out of place for someone who was a captain, but they had also been gifts from Isshin and Kaien of the Shiba clan. These were the items she had started with, but more flowers and more toys had come into the room. This of course confused her as she understood flowers at a funeral and perhaps toys for a child who actually acted like a child, but not for her taicho. This caused her to swallow as she wasn't sure what to think about the gathering of toys. In some ways it made her want to burst into tears right then and there.

Ukitake came and stood beside her. "How are you handling things?"

"I'm not handling things well, truth be told. I've lost them both. Gin, now my small taicho. There were certain things I realized too late I think and I'm going to have to live with that the rest of my life."

"My advice to you Rangiku is to live. Keep Shiro-chan locked in your heart, not forgetting about him."

"_Except I forgot about him before, and the idea of forgetting about him again scares me._" Rangiku continued to survey what was going on. "Ukitake... how are you going to handle this? You've dealt with the deaths of may of your comrades."

The man sighed. "This one is going to be harder. Shiro-chan wasn't simply a comrade. Actually... I've never had a comrade die who was a child Rangiku. This whole thing... it feels so wrong."

"I know."

"Well... Kyoraku is waiting for me. If you need to ever talk, feel free to come over."

"Thank you." Rangiku watched as the man went over to the head captain. "_Why do I get the feeling that he's the one whose going to need to talk more then anyone about this._"

She took a deep breath and watched as people continued to come and pay their respects. More flowers and stuffed animals arrived. "_Why? He hated being treated as a child._"

"This completely stinks! It's absolutely stupid!"

Rangiku turned her head to see Renji. She took a deep breath, not at all pleased with the fact he was going off. Everything had been carefully planned. She walked over to him. "Abarai... what do you mean that is stupid?"

"It's stupid that the fukutaicho of the first division got a captains burial but he doesn't."

Rangiku took a deep breath. "Abarai... my small taicho was quite fond of the fukutaicho of the first division."

"I'm not saying that he didn't deserve a full captain's burial, but Hitsugaya of all people deserved full honors. It..."

Ikkaku suddenly appeared to Renji's side, making a rather irritated face at the younger Shinigami. "Can it. Can't you see you're upsetting her?"

Yumichika also surprised. "It's also not the right venue for complaining about this particular subject. Mind you... you're not the only one who is upset about all of this. However... having been there..."

Renji backed down and bowed to Rangiku. "I sincerely apologize for my rude behavior Ms. Rangiku."

He then darted away. Rangiku turned to look at the two. "So..."

"We came to pay our respects." Ikkaku turned his head away.

"I'm grateful for that." The woman turned to look at the small shrine. "I don't understand all the toys though. Taicho hated being treated like a child. Most everyone should know that. I could understand Hinamori... but..."

The woman stopped, suddenly biting into her knuckle. Yumichika raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't that one of Hitsugaya Taicho's bad habits?"

Rangiku blinked a couple of times, caught off guard by this statement. Ikkaku however held out something to her. It was a wooden toy that he had taken the time to make. "The reason everyone is bringing toys is because everyone is aware that he missed out on his childhood. That bothers a lot of people. Myself included."

The woman found herself biting her lip as Ikkaku headed over to add his gift to the small shrine. Yumichika however didn't leave. "How are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"He died in your arms Matsumoto. You couldn't stop crying even after his body disintegrated. Do you feel like you failed him?"

"Is that really something you should be asking?" Rangiku continued to fiddle with her lip.

"I ask it because you seem to be beating yourself up about what happened. You did your best. Hitsugaya Taicho also wouldn't want you beating yourself up about this."

"Truth be told that's not what I'm beating myself up about." The woman took a deep breath. "I'm beating myself up because in the last two years I've lost the two most important men in my life. I don't feel like I can get close to anyone again."

"You know... Gin may still be alive. It was never confirmed what happened to him after the winter war."

Rangiku took a deep breath. "That just makes things worse. If he was alive... if he is alive, I don't think I'd be able to face him without wanting to kill him. Not after what happened to taicho."

Yumichika simply stood there, the silence lasting for a good few minutes. "Rangiku... is there something you're hiding from everyone."

The woman took a deep breath. "Don't worry. There is no point in bringing it up with anyone now. I don't want anyone's pity about this."

She continued to watch the wake and finally it was over. Dozens of toys and bundles of flowers were on the small shrine. She found herelf taking a deep breath, only to turn to see Nanao and her taicho coming to see her. Kyoraku tilted his hat. "Rangiku... this may not be the right time to bring this up. A few people... no, a lot of people... they've asked if the shrine can be left open to the public. I know you were wanting it to be private..."

"Why? Why would..."

"He was well loved."

"Well... I can't say no to that logic." Rangiku took a deep breath.

"Taicho... if you don't mind, I'm going to go out to drink with Matsumoto Fukutaicho."

"No... that's all right. I've got to see to Jushiro. He's not handling this well. Rangiku, if you could do me a favor could you visit him daily."

"Yeah... when I can. He always doted on my small taicho and I appreciated that." She turned to head out with Nanao, taking a deep breath as she did.

Nanao walked along with her. "So... who are you going to tell about this?"

"I honestly don't know. There is really no need to tell people that taicho... my small taicho, happens to be my child." She paused, remembering the eyes that had gone from a bright teal color to a pale teal color that matched Gin's. "No... there is one other person I need to tell. Ukitake Taicho. I'd feel bad about not sharing this with him, considering how much he's always cared about taicho."


	3. Glitched Life

**Glitched Life**

A clicking sound filled the classroom as the white piece of chalk moved across the board forming white kanji. The male teacher stood at the front of the classroom with his left hand in his left pants pocket. For some reason the man stopped what he was doing, his eyes darting to the right without turning his head. "Ms. Kimura... please bring that compact you're playing with up to the front of the classroom."

This caused a sigh of displeasure from the group of girls that formed Ms. Kimura's personal clique, the most audible sigh being her own. She stood up and walked to the front of the classroom, flipping her bleached orange hair in annoyance at the fact she had managed to get caught. The click of her heals was heard as she turned around and headed back to her desk and the chair made a scraping sound as she flung her weight into it in annoyance. She turned to complain to her friends, only for the teacher to speak up again. "And no complaining unless you want detention."

The teacher then went back to the lesson, his white chalk clicking again against the board. The bell rang a few minutes later and there was a major sound of the desks scraping the floor as the students got up to leave. In a fluid motion he turned, telling them what that nights homework would be. The vast majority of girls groaned as well as rolled their eyes at him before heading out of the room. Ms. Kimura stood up and walked to the desk, her hand reaching out to grab the compact. The man pulled the compact away. "Sorry, but you know the rules Ms. Kimura."

The compact then slipped into the desk drawer and was locked up with a quick turn of the key. The man removed the key and swung it around his finger. The girl tried to whine in an annoying manner. "But I need that compact. I can't do my makeup otherwise."

"I'm to care why?"

"Because I can't be beautiful otherwise."

"Elegant is the female who can look beautiful with little to no makeup."

"What kind of Chinese proverb is that?" The girl snorted, irritated that her pleas were going unnoticed.

"To be honest, I came up with that on the spur of the moment."

Another girl nervously came up to the desk, pushing up at her horn-rimmed glasses as she did so. Her friend who participated on many of the schools athletic teams stood slightly behind her, her mouth twisted up into a frown. The nervous girl's hands were hidden behind her back. "Shiba Sensei..."

The man looked at her, causing the girl's cheeks to flush at the site of his aqua colored eyes. One hand reached up to scratch his black hair. "Yes Ms. Imai?" The girl suddenly took a deep breath, almost as if it were now or never. Her hands came out from behind her back with a bag of cookies in them. The man blinked a couple of times. "_Not again..._"

"_You do look like you're just out of high school if not still in high school._"

"_Shut up Nejibana._" The man didn't appreciate the comments being made inside his head.

The girl swallowed and then fidgeted. Despite the fact he knew where this was going to go he decided to ask the other question. "What ever for?"

He watched as her friend flinched, her mouth twisting up in anger. "What do you mean 'what ever for'? Can't you tell she made those for you Shiba Sensei?"

As the girl had gotten close to the desk as well, his hand went out so he could flick her in the forehead. A red spot appeared on her forehead despite the fact he held back a great deal. "Do you really think I'm stupid Ms. Ishikawa? I know very well that she made the cookies for me. What I'd like to know is what possessed her to do such a thing?"

Ms. Imai's brown eyes suddenly welled up with tears. Her friend stepped between her and the teacher. ""She has a crush on you. Does it really hurt to accept the cookies? I mean, it's an innocent crush, right?"

"Innocent crush?" The three girls suddenly backed away from the man as he gave off a deadly aura. "I know you consider yourself her friend, but what kind of friend supports their friends crushes on their teachers? What if the teacher were to reciprocate the feelings? What..." He paused, seeing that Ms. Imai's eyes suddenly looked hopeful. "...would happen to your friend then?" He took a deep sigh, tapping the back of his head with his folder. "Seriously... Ms. Ishikawa, in case you haven't noticed Ms. Imai needs you to look out for her."

"Still... what harm could a teacher kindly turning her down and telling her what a charming girl she is be? Or that if she were older and not the teachers student that she might have a chance?"

"Problem?" The man glared at the two girls. "Because it wouldn't be true."

Ms. Kimura suddenly laughed. "Oh... lovely. The teacher's gay. Wait until..."

"Yes. The teacher who is still morning his dead wife is gay. Brilliant deduction Ms. Kimura and quite insulting." The girl swallowed. "Yes... what you just said wasn't tactful." The three girls looked away, not at all comfortable where the conversation had gone. The man continued. "A piece of advice here. Despite the fact you may like a guy, they may not ever reciprocate your feelings. Don't go looking for Prince Charming. Look for someone whose your better half."

Ms. Imai's eyes widened. "So... Shiba Sensei believes in soul mates?"

The man sighed and instead walked to the door. "Get going. Getting caught loitering after school hours unless you have club activities is frowned upon." Tapping the back of his head with his folder in annoyance he headed to the teachers room. He pulled his bag from the desk and put his folder into the bag. He thankfully didn't need to make any copies. He stopped short when the principle suddenly spoke up.

"So... how did things go today?"

"I broke another students heart."

One of the female teachers snorted. "Why are you even surprised that the girls would want to flirt with you?"

"I'm not surprised that one or two has a crush on me. What surprises me is the fact they're acting on said crushes. I mean, shouldn't they know better?"

"Obviously you have no daughters of your own."

The man remained silent for awhile, before speaking up. "I have two nieces their age. That makes what they're doing even creepier. So if you please, the subject is closed."

"Yes... until the next incident. I think it is cute." The woman laughed while the principle uttered an apology.

"By the way. There is a teacher's position opening up at Karakura high school next year."

"So... you're trying to get rid of me."

"No. It's nothing like that. I'd rather not lose you. It's actually the teacher whose retiring who is requesting that you take the position. Despite only being here for less then a year they like the fact you don't let the students walk over you."

"_Pay cut likely._"

"_Yes... but no obnoxious junior high students. The school also won't be all girls._"

"It would be a raise."

"_Great..._" The man took his raincoat out of his bag.

One of the male teachers laughed. "Oh come on! There isn't a cloud in the sky. There was also no reports of rain."

The female teacher laughed. "Don't under estimate Shiba Sensei's ability to predict the weather and be prepared for it. I'll be grabbing one of the umbrella's from lost and found for today as I forgot mine at home again."

The man shook his head and headed out to where his motorbike waited. His hands were on the handles when his phone began to rang. Letting out a deep sigh he reached in and placed the phone to his ear. "What do you want Isshin?"

"_Ahh... can't your loving older twin brother call to say how much he loves you?_"

"More like you're trying to get me to check in. I don't need you to babysit me Isshin. Actually... if I remember correctly I used to be the one who had to babysit you as you were always getting into trouble."

"Well... if I'm now having to babysit you, then that means I'm now the responsible one and you're the irresponsible one."

"It doesn't work that way." The man clicked the phone shut and started up the engine on his motorbike before taking off to his apartment. "_Thank god there is no school tomorrow._" The rain began to pour down, soaking into his pants legs but not the upper area. The man found himself pulling to a stop as a sudden feeling hit him. This caused him to suddenly change direction and stop near a bridge. Swallowing he got off a bike.

"_It's not a Hollow, so why are you worried?_"

"_Because I know this rieatsu spike and something feels off._" The man took the keys with him and arrived down at the lower part. The man swallowed, not at all happy at what he saw. Huddled up against a wall was a boy with stark white hair, completely naked. "_Yeah... this so feels like what happened to me. But..._" The man reached into his pocket and dialed a number. It rung and when the person on the other side picked up he said the name he was looking for. "Isshin?"

"_Oh... so you're now in trouble and want big brother's help. First you need to apologize for hanging up on me._"

"There isn't any time for this. Toshiro..."

Isshin quickly interrupted him. "_Kaien... Toshiro's dead_._"_

"What did you mean he's dead? Seriously... of all the things not to tell me, that is _not_ one of them. Plus..."

"_Kaien. Toshiro's been dead for over a week now. They held his funeral wake yesterday._"

"That's not possible. He's right here in..." The man felt his hand's tremble. "Isshin. I need your help."

"_An apology?_"

"Stop acting like a childish moron! You're just miffed that I get to live the bachelor life style you wanted. Well I have news for you! You've got the life I wanted with Miyako!" Kaien took a deep breath. "Seriously... how can you not have picked up the fact _it_ has happened again. This time though... I think it's worse then my situation."

"_You mean..._" Isshin stopped short. "_I'll be there in a bit. No... do you think you can meet me at your apartment? You need to get him warmed up._"

The phone clicked off and Kaien watched as his breath began to form ice crystals in the air. "Seriously... how am I supposed to carry a naked child without..." He paused, before letting out an irritated sigh. Swinging the waterproof bag off his shoulder he set it down next to the boy and pulled of his rain jacket. "I hope for your sake kiddo that this works. The last thing we need is to be having to modify the memories of people in the living world."


	4. Downpour

**Down Pour**

When Kaien pulled the rain jacket over Toshiro's shoulders the boy did not respond. Instead the white haired youth shook uncontrollably and stared blankly at the wall. "_How exactly am I to get him home when he is as unresponsive as this. I can't take him on the bike. I also need a way to make sure that bike doesn't get stolen as it is my way of getting to work._"

"_Yes... you weren't much more responsive then this. And why are you more worried about you're bike then the kid. How irresponsible._"

"_Nejibana... now is not the time. This wouldn't be happening if Isshin had listened to me when I told him Toshiro was worse off them me. You and I both know he is. I at least recognized my own brother. Toshiro... he can't recognize me. And also... leaving the motorbike here is highly irresponsible. The last thing we need is the police knocking at our doors._" Kaien began to button the coat firmly around the boy's body. He looked at the bag. "_Unfortunately... I think that I am going to have to use that. Isshin is going to be pissed._"

The man left Toshiro against the wall and reached for his bag, glad that he was under the bridge so the contents wouldn't get wet. He pulled out an item and shut the bag. Standing up he popped a Soul Candy in his mouth. The being now in his body saluted him. "Yo!"

"The keys to my bike are in your pocket. I need you to take the bike back to the house. If you get a scratch on it I will try this method I've heard about of sticking you into a stuffed animal and I will not hesitate to torture you. Make a fool of me and I will torture you as well."

"All right dude!" The being saluted and headed to the bike. Kaien grabbed the bag and swung it over his shoulder, hiding his spiritual pressure and hoping that no one had noticed. The positive side of things was that the thirteenth and tenth divisions didn't patrol this area. The bad news was there was still Shinigami out there that could recognize his spiritual pressure. Bending over he scooped up the boy and began to flashstep.

Arriving at his small house he looked around and didn't see anyone watching. His left hand darted down to his bag and fished out the keys to his house and quickly unlocked the door. He stepped in, feeling the kido barrier that was set up so that those with spiritual pressure couldn't be felt while they were inside. He let out a deep breath and headed over to the couch to set the boy down, only to hear a voice from the other side of the room.

"Kaien!" The voice caused him to jump, his eyes turning to glare at his older twin brother. Despite being twins there was now an age gap between them physically and for some reason Isshin liked acting like an adult despite the fact he wasn't much more mature then he was. This wasn't to say Isshin couldn't be mature when he wanted to, but he had always been the one to goof off.

Kaien continued to glare at Isshin and choose not to respond. Instead he headed over to the couch and set the boy down. His brother called his name again and he looked up, angry that Isshin had pulled the stunt he had. "What?"

"What are you doing out of your body? You know that we placed special kido on your body that hid your reiatsu."

"You know... I wouldn't have had to ditch my body if you had come to the bridge instead of meeting me here. And how did you get in?"

"I have a key."

"Since when?"

"Urahara made it for me."

"I'll have to have a word with him about that."

"What ever for?"

"Isshin, seriously stop being an overprotective mother hen!"

"I wouldn't have to be an overprotective mother hen if you didn't mess up! We need to get Toshiro dry!"

The man took a deep breath. "I would have started getting him dry if you hadn't been such a pain in the ass. Seriously... knock it off." Kaien stood up and headed into the hall way. "I can very well take care of my son Isshin, so _don't_ act like... like... well, how you're acting."

Isshin frowned, only to turn to look at Kaien. "Wait. Did you say what I think you did? Toshiro isn't your son Kaien."

"Last time I checked the adoption papers went through. Toshiro is Miyako and my son."

"Those legal papers don't work here in the world of the living! They have no legal basis." It was then that the soul candy that had been in charge of his body came in. It stepped into Kaien and the soul candy popped out of his mouth and he caught it, glaring at Isshin as he did so. "And look at yourself! You're soaking wet!"

"I told you..." Kaien pointed a finger at Isshin. "Stop being a mother hen. Neither one of us need it. You know as well as I that Urahara will have to draw up papers for Toshiro just like he did for me. Unlike myself Toshiro can't get a job to support himself. He needs someone to take care of him."

"He doesn't know about the adoption Kaien. He was never told." A silence fell over the room. The decision Kaien made was to ignore his older brother and instead headed over to Toshiro and began to pull off the wet raincoat.

"Does that matter? It's lonely here and I care about him. You know as well as I that you've been keeping my existence a secret from your family. I've not gotten a chance to meet your daughters and meeting Ichigo is highly out of the question as he'll put things together."

"Particularly since he now knows I was a former Shiba."

"Neither one of us have anywhere else to go. I think we can make it work."

Isshin sighed, before moving to scratch his head. "Fine. Fine. I'll admit that it might work out."

"But you're not willing to admit that you were wrong again?" Kaien shook his head. "I'm going to go and get one of my nightshirts. Just... do that doctor thing you do."

Isshin let out a sigh as he walked over to the small boy, bringing his medical bag with him. He opened it up and removed a flashlight, clicking it on to shine the light in the boy's half open eyes. He swallowed as he saw no response. Taking out his stethoscope he felt around to see if the child was breathing, only to find himself shaking his head. There was a heart beat and breathing, but everything was very faint.

Kaien came back. "So?"

"You're not going to like what I have to say. Put that nightshirt on him first so that he is decent."

The younger twin sighed, carefully lifting the boy up and pulled the nightshirt over the child's head. "Isshin... I know something is upsetting you."

"I hate to tell you this, but we've got to get him to the hospital."

Kaien's entire body froze. He gently settled the boy back down. "Isshin... you know as well as I we can't bring people of the living world into this mess. Why not Urahara?"

"Because Urahara treats sicknesses of the soul. Just like you Toshiro is in a physical body and his ailment is something a doctor needs to treat. I _need_ the hospitals equipment."

The man stood, swallowing. "Seriously... this isn't good. You know they'll ask questions."

Isshin looked him right in the eye. "Trust your big brother on this one. I know what I'm doing."

"_You know that when he gets serious there is no stopping him. He'll succeed at what he's set out to do._"

Kaien brushed what his zampaktuo said away, scratching his head. "You could at least explain things to me. I hate you being all secretive. It used to be Isshin you and I shared everything. Then you went to the world of the living twice and you still haven't told me what happened."

"There is someone I met from that time whose going to help us."

"And why is he going to help us? No... seriously. Shouldn't it be you who owes him a favor, not the other way around."

Isshin took a deep breath. "Actually... it is more like the two of us owe Urahara. You could also say he's family. He has every reason in the world to help us out." He then looked at Toshiro. "Plus... there are other circumstances as to why he'd want to help Toshiro, but I can't go into them at this point."

Kaien knelt down besides the small couch. "Isshin... are you sure?"

"Yes." The man walked over to the phone and dialed a number. "Hello. I need to speak to the director of your hospital, Ishida Ryuken. The person who is calling is Kurosaki Isshin." There came another pause. "Hi Ryuken. I need your help with something. No... you know I wouldn't call you if it wasn't an emergency." Isshin hung up the phone. "The ambulance will be here soon."

"Can we trust the people he sends?"

"Yes. Now's not the time to explain why though."


	5. Hospital

**Hospital**

Two aqua eyes looked at two teal eyes hoping that there would be some kind of reaction from the small child that lay on the couch. Kaien had gone and gotten a blanket and tucked it around Toshiro in an attempt to further warm the child, but this wasn't helping the boy to respond. No outside stimulus was working. The man swallowed before looking up at his twin brother. "Isshin... when you found me I wasn't this bad was I?"

Isshin remained silent for a few minutes, looking at the door hoping the ambulance would arrive. "No. You weren't this bad. You didn't remember that you had died, even forgotten everything that occurred after you took the fukutaicho position in Ukitake's squad. You remember everything now though."

The sound of knocking on the door was heard and Isshin went to the door. "I'll be back. I need to help Ryuken get the stretcher."

"_I see that Isshin's friend has personally come himself. I'm still not quite understanding what the relationship between those two is. Isshin's not very forth right about all of this._" A few minutes later Isshin came back into the room with a man with white hair and glasses. The two pulled in the stretcher and they lowered it so they could easily transport Toshiro onto the stretcher. Kaien watched as they lifted the boy up onto the stretcher and wrapped more blankets around him, tightening the straps.

"Don't worry. We didn't use sirens, so if we hurry your neighbors won't know anything is amiss." The stranger said.

Kaien let out a sigh and followed them, locking the door up behind him. He helped Isshin to get the stretcher into the back, glad that the rain had diminished greatly. Isshin's friend closed the door and got in on the passenger side of the vehicle. The vehicle started up, moving fast as Isshin began to use some of the equipment on Toshiro. Kaien wished he could reach out to touch the boy's hand, but it was secured under the blankets.

Upon arriving at the hospital they waited for the doors to open. Kaien couldn't help but notice that it wasn't the usual entrance. The driver poked his head out of the window. "Sir... will you be needing any help."

"No. We have it handled. Take the ambulance back in case anyone else needs it. You know what to say if anyone asks." The two began to pull the stretcher to a side door and Kaien followed, frowning as he did so. They headed down some stairs to a room that looked to be secret, much like how Urahara's rooms were secret. This room was filled with the equipment that Isshin needed. Ryuken helped Isshin to examine the boy and they got an IV drip going. The boy was also attached to a respiratory machine to help control his sporadic breathing.

"So?" Kaien asked when they finished and stepped out to a side room that looked to be a hidden office.

"He's in a comma." Ryuken stated. His demeanor was cold. "Isshin... who exactly is this child?"

"That child is Toshiro, my former third seat. I've told you about him. You remember, right?"

"Yes. I remember." Something the man said surprised the two. "Are you _sure_ that he's a Shinigami?"

Kaien suddenly bristled. "Do you have a problem with Shinigami?"

"I have a neutral stance in regards to them when it comes to Shinigami outside of the Kurosaki family." The man looked back at the room with the boy. "That, and if the Shinigami is a child. That child though is no Shinigami."

Isshin blinked a couple of times while Kaien stared at the man. The younger twin felt the corner of his mouth twist up. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that child isn't a Shinigami. He's a Quincy. To..."

Kaien quickly interrupted. "How is it that you know he's a Quincy."

"Because I am one."

The younger glared at the man. "Are you saying Toshiro is a Quincy you have reason to take custody of him?"

"If you would have let me finish you would have heard me say that to be exact he's a Quincy in the sense Isshin's children are Quincy."

Kaien took a deep breath, not at all pleased at where this conversation was going. He turned his head to Isshin to see that his brother wasn't arguing against this point. More to the point. "Isshin..."

"Look, I didn't betray you by bringing you to Ryuken. I've known even before Ichigo was born about this."

"What?" The younger twinge felt his voice as he really did feel betrayed.

"Really? This is the first I've heard about this. When exactly did you find out?"

"Your father allowed me free access to his library. One day I found Hyorinmaru's symbol in one of the books and asked your father about it."

"I've read all of the books in my father's library. What symbol was it?"

"It was _that_ symbol." Isshin looked at Kaien. "I'll explain things to you later, about all of this."

Kaien could pick up his twins mood and knew that something was bothering him. "I get it. The reason you don't want to tell me right now isn't because you want to keep secrets. You really don't want to talk about this right now. Just like you didn't want to talk about dad's death right after he died."

Ryuken frowned. "Shiba Kaien... if you don't mind, there are a few questions I'd like to ask Isshin on a medical basis. Would you mind stepping in and sitting with young Hitsugaya right now?"

"Sure..." Kaien slipped out of the room.

"Isshin... how did Toshiro die? Did the Shinigami kill him for betraying them?"

"I know why you're asking the question Ryuken. It was his own people that betrayed him. One severely injured him, one taxed him until he died of those injuries and another used his corpse to fight against the Quincy." The man folded his arms across his chest. "Why do you ask?"

"Your brother and this child came back to life because their entry back into the cycle of rebirth was interrupted, thus causing things to mess up. If you only look at that fact there shouldn't be a difference and thus be no difference in how they re-entered. However... I think it has to do with the mental trauma."

"Come on Ryuken. Toshiro's a tough kid." Isshin shook his head in disbelief.

"From what you've told me he is. You and I both know that he has a mind of a child and will thus take things as a child will take them. There may be things about his death you haven't been told. Your brother went in fighting with a blind rage and didn't harm anyone he cared about."

Isshin scratched the back of his head. "I'll tell Kaien."

"Also tell him I won't try to take Toshiro from him. We've got to be careful about her finding out though."

He slipped from one room to another, finding his brother sitting in a chair with his knees pulled to his chest. Kaien turned his aqua colored eyes to look at Isshin. "So?"

"He really doesn't want to take Toshiro, but we have to be careful as there is someone who would take great interest in finding out about him in the world of the living. As for medical issues, Ryuken put forth the idea that the reason Toshiro is in a comma is because he ended up mentally broken in the war before he died."

"Are you going to tell me how he died?"

"Another time. The details I got from Urahara were vague. I really didn't want to hear at the time all that happened to Toshiro, considering the fact we always thought of him as part of our family. I need to press for more answers so Ryuken and I can figure out if it really does have any relation to why things are different this time around. Also... Kaien..."

Isshin stopped and Kaien listened to the silence. "If you're not ready to tell me, don't. I don't have to think of Toshiro as having died as long as you don't tell me. So... only tell me when you're good and ready. Then I get to be the basket case." Silence fell over the room and Kaien decided to speak again. "Isshin... is Toshiro going to make it. I mean... he gets this second chance at a life and for it to be taken from him?"

"I know. It would just be so horrible. This said, it's honestly his choice whether he wants to live or not."

"I don't see it that way."

"Aren't I usually the one who is being the optimist and you the pessimist."

"I've got to be optimist about this Isshin. No, the way I see it is this. It's our decision whether Toshiro lives or dies. His will to live is going to depend on our interactions with him over the next few days."

"You can't miss work Kaien. Neither can I."

"I know. I'm going to come when I can. If he's at a point where he is questioning whether to live or not, then we need to give him a reason to live. That may be the real difference between the two of us. I had plenty of reasons to live after Miyako died and I got thrown out of the cycle of rebirth. I knew you were alive despite everyone being gone and I knew Toshiro was alive as well."

"Kaien... is this more for yourself or Toshiro. I mean... if he's gone, does that mean you have lost part of what makes you want to live?"

"I've still got your kids to meet."

"You know why you can't meet."

"It would be nice though if things changed so that I could possibly meet them. I'm glad only Ichigo has been drug into this whole family mess of ours with Soul Society. It really does brighten my day knowing the girls are doing fine."

"Speaking of girls... how is your job doing."

"I have girls the age of my nieces trying to flirt with me. How do you think my day went. Oh yeah... I also found the child I think of as my own sun under a bridge naked, shivering and unresponsive. I had to use a soul candy to send my body and bike home because you were being an arse about the whole thing. I used my raincoat on Toshiro, which meant I got soaked."

Isshin suddenly tugged on his brother's sleeve. "By the way... you really need to change your clothes as you are still quite wet." He then sighed and stood up. "I've got to get back to the house. Yuzu's dinner is waiting. I'll bring you leftovers if there are any, but Ichigo and Karin have large appetites because of their reiatsu, so no guarantee. I'll tell them that I need to keep an eye on a patient the next coming weeks and maybe Yuzu will pack me some dinners."


	6. Rain of Tears

**Rain of Tears**

Upon the sounding of the school bell the desk chairs scraped against floor of the classroom. The sounds of bags being picked up off the hooks on the desk was also heard as well as the students discussing their plans for that particular weekend. Many of the girls discussed going out for karaoke or having slumber parties, while many of the guys discussed going to play at the arcade or scoring the next release of a popular game.

Karin picked up her school bag and swung it over her shoulder to head on home. She paused to see her sister chatting away with some of the girls, likely planning on some kind of event as well as possibly planning on dragging her along. Choosing to instead ignore the other girls she headed to the door, only for Yuzu to let out a sound of dismay as she was being left behind. She hurried forward, her bag being held in front of her.

They arrived at the shoe lockers and she opened up her own locker. Out of her corner of her eye she saw a couple of girls peeking around the corner, one muttering under her breath about how cool the Kurosaki twins were only to let out a sigh of annoyance. This kind of treatment for herself had been non-existent before she and Yuzu had entered middle school. Yuzu of course was used to being idolized but she didn't very well like it.

She switched out of the pair of shoes she wore for school and switched into her tennis shoes and turned to leave, only to find Yuzu tugging at her sleeve. "It's going to rain Karin. You had better get your umbrella out as well."

"I like the rain. I bought a water proof school bag for a reason you know."

"Karin-chan!"

"Fine!" Karin lowered her bag and pulled out the umbrella she had in her bag, ready to open it as soon as it started to pour down rain. After a few drops she popped it open with a thud, thinking nothing about what was going on around her. The smells of the rain were nice and she found herself enjoying the coolness of the afternoon. Something though had been tugging at her mind since her brother left.

"Ichigo's going to be back from that soccer camp soon, right?"

"I hope so." A sudden chill ran down her spin and her eyes darted towards the bridge in the distance. Her mouth opened briefly and she made to go in that direction, only to find Yuzu grabbing onto her wrist.

"Come on Karin. We've got to get home to set up for the slumber party."

Karin swallowed, still looking in the direction she had felt the flare of rieatsu. It was all to familiar and the feeling that _that_ person needed help couldn't escape her mind. She tugged her arm free from her sister. "Yuzu... are you sure that the slumber party is a good idea? I'm surprised that dad gave us permission."

"I think it is a wonderful idea. You and Ichi-nii never invite friends over because you're afraid of someone finding out about your secret, that you guys can see ghosts. That's why you always made friends with guys. It gave you an excuse to not invite them over. But when you met a friend who happened to be able to see spirits you were quite fine with inviting him over."

"What friend?" Karin blinked a couple of times, swallowing again in hopes that her sister wouldn't pick up on the fact she was worried about something.

"Toshiro of course! He can see spirits! That's why you invited him over! That's why the two of you are dating, right?"

Karin took a deep breath. "Yuzu. We're not dating."

"Yes you are. I know he likes you."

"Whether he likes me or not is a mute point when he is unable to confess those feelings." Karin looked back in the direction of the bridge. "_Toshiro... what kind of trouble have you gotten in this time? You know that I'm not strong enough to rescue your but unless you're messing up in front of me because you're such a baka._"

"Come on Karin! It's our first sleepover. And Ichigo's not going to be home, so we don't have to worry about any embarrassing situations."

"Yeah... what about dad. I mean..." Karin let out a sharp sound of dismay upon feeling Toshiro's rieatsu suddenly disappear.

"Karin?"

"Oh... I mean that dad tends to do embarrassing things."

"If he does something embarrassing at the sleepover I told him he has to do the kitchen duties for at least a whole week, if not a month." Yuzu smiled at her sister. "Getting back to the point of this slumber party Karin. You really need to interact more with other girls you know. All you do is hang out with boys, yet you say all of them are perverts."

"Except Toshiro. Toshiro is... well, he's different."

"Don't you want to gossip about him with other girls?"

"Not really." She watched Yuzu's face falter. "Toshiro doesn't really like being talked about. It makes him nervous and he's worried that when people gossip about him that they're saying bad things about him."

"But you've only got nice things to say about him. I mean he's the perfect prince charming."

"No, he's not. I mean, I could list off the ways he is perfect. I did that once in front of him and he began spluttering off how he isn't perfect. Can we change the subject please?" Karin swallowed. "_Please be at home Ichi-nii. I can ask for you to go after Toshiro._"

The two girls arrived at the house, only to have their father nearly knock them over. "Sorry girls. I've got an emergency patient."

"Daddy! What about the slumber party?"

"Ichigo's going to be back this afternoon. Plus, I'll go and do what I need to do." The man disappeared while Yuzu stomped her foot.

"Let me guess. You're not happy that Ichi-nii is coming back?"

"That idiot is sure to do something embarrassing. I know he is." Yuzu shook out her umbrella and placed it by the door before heading in to drop her school bag on the kitchen table. She went over and began to start popping popcorn.

Karin proceeded to do the same with her things. She then sat in the chair looking at her sister. "You know Yuzu. These girls are your friends. I've got nothing in common with them, nothing I can bond with them about. I mean, I'm not interested in gossiping about guys as none of the guys at school even remotely interest me and the one guy I could talk about. Well, I told you why I don't want to gossip about him."

The doorbell rang and Karin went to the door, letting in the two of the girls that Yuzu had invited over. "Hi Midoriko. You're..."

"Don't worry. I'm Sawako Sai. It's nice to meet you." Karin let them in and watched as they placed their bags onto the table.

The doorbell rang and Karin answered again. "Hi. Misami Ino, correct?"

"Yeah. You remember me from elementary school. I'm a bit surprised. I kind of don't stand out."

Karin sighed as she watched the other girls begin to gossip and she began to fidget. The door opened and she looked up expecting it to be her father, but instead it was her brother who came in. He was dripping wet and leaned over. "Hey... what's going on."

"Dad let us have a slumber party."

"Really? So... when exactly did you guys ask dad to have the slumber party." Ichigo watched as the girls at the table giggled. Ino waved at him and he nervously waved back.

"Early this week."

"So... when he was pre-occupied with something else on his mind."

"He's still fine with it Ichigo." Karin sighed.

"Are you?" Ichigo watched her suddenly glare at him. "Never mind. That was an annoying question."

"Ichi-nii... is something upsetting you?" Karin watched as her sister brought over the popcorn.

Ichigo looked over at the girls, frowning as he did so. "I do need to tell you about this, but later."

"Ichi-nii..."

The boy smiled at her despite the look of sadness in his eyes. "I don't want to ruin your guys slumber party. So I'll tell you tomorrow."

"Toshiro..." Karin swallowed.

"How..." Ichigo glanced nervously at the girls. Yuzu's face suddenly faltered. The older teen took a deep breath. "All right. I'll talk to you about it upstairs."

"But..." Karin's twin didn't like the fact she hadn't been invited.

"No. This is for Karin's ears Yuzu. You know it is."

Karin could swear that her brother looked extremely tired. As she headed up the stairs she heard Sai speak up. "Whose this Toshiro person?"

"Karin's boyfriend. Well, sort of. He's this guy who has a crush on her but hasn't been able to admit it."

The want to block out the infernal gossip caused Karin to shake her head. "Seriously... I wish she'd stop."

"I'm going to change as I'm soaking wet. Wait in your room."

The girl went into her room and sat on the bed, pulling her knees up to her chest. Something told her she wasn't going to like what her brother had to say. Ichigo came in and sat on the bed next to her. "You do understand that what I have to say is bad news, right? Actually... you do understand that being a Shinigami is dangerous, right?"

"Get to the point." Karin muttered into her knees as she looked out in the room. "I'm not a little kid."

"No. You're not." Ichigo looked at the wall. "Toshiro's dead Karin."


	7. Tears of Rain

**Glitch  
_Tears of Rain_**

"Toshiro's dead Karin." Ichigo looked at her with a straight face, his eyes glazed over slightly. Karin could also see his Adam's apple bob down telling her he wasn't really ready to be discussing the subject but that he was going out of his way to tell her.

Despite this Karin's mind focused on what she had sensed on her way home from school and she began to worry her lip. "That's not possible."

"Karin... you know being a Shinigami is dangerous!" Ichigo's voice strained as if he wanted to cry, which in turn made Karin want to cry as well. The subject matter wasn't nice, but something told her that her brother was wrong.

"I felt his reiatsu a bit ago. He can't have..." Karin opened her mouth, a realization hitting her. "_Ichigo tried to save him just a bit ago. He failed. Which means.._" The girl let out a sigh, turning her head away from her brother. "Ichi-nii... stop beating yourself up about this."

Ichigo however ignored her attempt to console him. "Karin... it's not possible for us to have felt his reiatsu a bit ago. We would have had to have been imagining things. Toshiro's been dead..." Her brother paused, looking away suddenly. "They held his memorial service yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Karin shook her head, frustrated that her brother was being as stubborn as always. "Ichi-nii. I didn't imagine things. And how could..."

"He's been dead for a week Karin!" Her brother snapped at her, something he never, ever did. This meant something was wrong and Karin didn't like the feeling she was getting off her brother.

"Let me get this straight. He's been dead for a week and you couldn't tell me? You couldn't even be bothered to make sure I got to go to the memorial service for him? You _know_ he's my best friend!" She felt her anger boil over, only to go slack jaw upon seeing the look on her brother's face. There was no anger at her there, only deep sadness and regret.

"I didn't go to the memorial service Karin. I couldn't. He..." Her brother's voice strained before looking away. "I know what it's like, not wanting to admit that he's dead."

Karin folded her arms across her chest. "_So either I was imagining things or Ichi-nii felt that spike in reiatsu as well but brushed it off as being his imagination._" She looked away, not at all sure what to say to her brother. "So... you'd be able to recognize his reiatsu if you felt it."

"Of course I would have Karin." Her brother reached a hand up to grasp his forehead. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect him for you. I know what the two of you mean... meant to each other."

"What about what Toshiro meant to you?" Karin bit her tongue. "_He's not dead! How can you not realize that!" _Her brother instead remained silent, his head hung. "I don't blame you, if that helps."

"I blame myself."

"_Despite the fact you likely were not anywhere near to do something, otherwise you would._" Karin swallowed. "Hey... Ichi-nii. You said there was a memorial service. That means there was no funeral. That means there was no body, so..."

"Karin. He died in Rangiku-san's arms. He _disintegrated_ in Rangiku's arms. He..." Her brother stood up slipping his hands into his pockets. "Sorry, but this is as much as I can handle right now."

Karin watched as her brother slipped out of the room to his own and she flopped down onto the bed. "_He can't be dead. I know I sensed him a bit ago._" An arm went to cover her eyes as she felt the sobs suddenly rack her body, not at all sure what to do about the situation. A knock came on the door and she wiped them away. "Come in?"

"Hey... Yuzu us helping the other girls figure out the microwave. Are you all right?" Sai peeked into the room, frowning as she did so.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Karin bounced off her bed and began to head down the stairs. "_I'll cry about it later._"

"You don't look all right." The other girl folded her arms across her chest. "What did your brother say to you? This guy didn't end up being a jerk and asking some other girl out?"

"No." Karin paused, looking at the girl. "Ichi-nii came home with news that they believe Toshiro's dead."

"Why are you acting like nothing is wrong? Shouldn't you be crying your head off?" The girl looked at her, noting that Karin's behavior wasn't unusual.

"I did cry. I'm pretending that nothing is wrong so that Yuzu doesn't worry. Please don't..."

"Don't tell her?" Sai shook her head. "She's already worried Karin. And is it that they believe he is dead, or that he is dead."

"They... had the memorial service yesterday."

"Well, it was quite cruel of your brother not to tell you two!"

"That..." Karin looked at the ground.

"And doesn't that mean he's dead, if they held a memorial service for him?" The girl frowned at Karin.

The girl took a deep breath. "Yes." Karin looked away. "_Under normal circumstances it does._"

"Tell her. I know you don't want to, but you should."

Karin frowned, the corner's of her mouth twisting up. "_Come on. I barely know you._" She arrived downstairs and saw Yuzu look up from making frozen snacks with the other girls in the microwave. Sandwiches and other food items were on the table. She took a deep breath, realizing that the girl was right... Yuzu would want to know. "Yuzu..."

"Toshiro is all right, right?"

Karin swallowed, looking at her sister. "No, he isn't."

"He's being taken care of though and he should get better, right?"

The dark haired twin took a deep breath. "Yuzu, Ichi-nii just told me that Toshiro's dead."

"Karin says your brother didn't tell her about the memorial service that was yesterday."

Yuzu's eyes widened as Midoriko frowned. "That was mean of your brother to not tell you."

"Karin... is Ichi-nii..." Karin watched as her sister swallowed. "He's in his dark place, isn't he. He blames himself and isn't letting anyone in."

"Yeah. Yuzu, could you make up a trey of food for me to take up for him? Toshiro..." Karin paused, not wanting to say those words. "Toshiro died around a week ago. I doubt Ichi-nii's been eating right since then."

Ino gave the sister's a confused look. "I don't understand. Why aren't the two of you mad at your brother for not telling you sooner."

Yuzu busied herself with the trey of food. "Ichi-nii did the same thing when mom died. He closed himself off from everyone and it took time to get through to him."

"We're lucky that he talked to us about this." Karin took the trey of food. "Yuzu... I'm going to try and visit tomorrow. You want to come."

Her sister frowned then shook her head. "Toshiro's nice, but I didn't get to know him like you and Ichi-nii did."

"You two talk as if he is still alive. It's not like he's in the hospital where you can visit him." Ino shook her head, biting into a chip.

Sai spoke up. "Not true. There is the belief that spirits linger sometimes. Graves and shrines also represent a way of communicating with the other side with the ones we love."

"You believe in ghosts?" Midoriko asked.

"Yes. I do. I have good reason to." Sai took a chip. "You guys still all right with having a sleepover? I mean, this is kind of bummer news."

Yuzu opened her mouth to say something about the subject of ghosts only to have Karin interupt her. "It's fine if we still have the slumber party. Let's not talk about ghosts and other dead things though."

She headed up the stairs and knocked on the door to her brother's room, only to get no answer. She opened the door with her foot and saw her brother lying on his bed with her back to her. _"_Ichi-nii?"

When he didn't answer she went and set the food on the desk. "Yuzu's made you some food." She closed her eyes. "_Ichi-nii's trained so hard to be able to protect those he cares for. For him to not be able to protect someone._" Karin let out a sigh. "Ichi-nii... I need a favor... so could you listen to me?"

She heard the sheets on his bed move and she looked over to see that he twisted his head around to look at her. His eyes of course were still glazed over slightly. "What kind of favor?"

"I want to pay my respects. I need you to take me to Soul Society tomorrow." She watched as her brother sat up, frowning as he did so.

"Karin... I would love to take you but there are restrictions."

"Uncle Kyoraku gave us passes so we could come and go. It was supposed to be in case you weren't allowed to come back to the living world, but I can use it to go to Soul Society."

Her brother remained silent for a bit. "There is a chance I may still end up stuck in Soul Society a lot. They're already talking about me taking Toshiro's place as I'm a prime candidate."

Karin took a deep breath. "Please?"

"I know. I know. I may be avoiding paying my respects for a multitude of reasons, but that doesn't mean I should keep you from paying respects. Particular since..." Ichigo paused, swallowing. "No. I'll take you. I'll give Rukia a call and let her know I'll be coming back for a bit tomorrow."

"Also... eat something." Karin slid out of the door and headed back down the stairs. The mood was dismal. The front door opened and she looked up.

Isshin stood there shaking out his umbrella. "Hi girls! I'm glad..." He stopped short, picking up on the mood. "Hey? What's going on?"

"One of Karin's friends died." Ino munched on the popcorn half heartily.

"Oh... do I know him?" Isshin frowned.

"No... you don't know Toshiro daddy. Karin never got to introduce you him to you."

"Toshiro?" Karin watched her father tense up.

The girl took a deep breath. "Dad... this is the kind of guy I really would have liked to introduce you to." She looked at the door behind him, swallowing as she did so. "_Toshiro may be alive and needing rescue._" She stood up and headed to the door. "I think I want to go for a walk dad."

"Wait... I'll go with you." Isshin grabbed his umbrella. "Young ladies shouldn't be walking alone this late at night."

"Thanks..." Karin frowned, not wanting to make her father feel unwanted. "_How am I to explain things to him if I find Toshiro?_"

They walked in silence towards the bridge. She walked to the underside only to see nothing. Her father had a rather worried look on her face. "Karin... did you like this Toshiro?"

Karin flinched. "I guess so. I was kind of waiting for him to finally have the courage to confess to me. He... never mind." She paused upon seeing some flashing lights up above. A police officer shown their flashlight down.

"What's going on down there? You aren't out meeting under aged girls sir?"

"This loser's my dad." Karin pointed her thumb at Isshin. "I needed to go for a walk because I found out a friend of mine died and he didn't want me out walking by myself."

The man looked like he wanted to question her, only to have his partner speak up. "There was an explosion on the other side of town. They're calling backup."

The officer glared, but turned back. Karin sighed, walking back towards the house. Her father spoke up. "So... this really was a guy you'd want to introduce to me."

"Yeah. I was so mad that you always had other things to do when he showed up. You would have liked him dad."

"I bet I would. I mean... for a guy to turn your head... he must have been great."


	8. Bing, Bang, Boom

**Bing, Bang, Boom**

Death was not something she wished for and in fact was the thing she feared the most. She could still remember being strangled as she was unable to move and protect herself, only to be brought back moments after her death to be a slave that was half way between life and death. She found herself cursing the fact she had been taken advantage of, that her freedom had been stripped away. She had been angry despite the fact she took the anger out by blowing things up.

The last thing she wanted was to be thrown away. "_You mean like him._" The voice in her head said.

Two eyes opened up and looked around at the surroundings, not registering what the voice in her head meant at first. A thought though crossed her mind. "_What is the point of winning if you yourself don't live?_" Her body ached and she felt a chill run through her body, causing her to reach up and grab her shoulder with her right hand, only to realize that her shoulder was bare. Her eyes darted down to see that her body was naked which in turn caused her to sigh.

She pushed herself up, wondering if Gigi had dumped her off naked somewhere. This caused her to stand up and stomp her foot. "This isn't funny! I really hate you guys!" She flicked her fingers at the dumpster near her and watched it explode upon contact. "All right, come out you guys."

The girl placed her hands on her hips, her purple hair draping over her shoulders. Silence was what greeted her and she tugged at her locks. Her hair was damp from having touched the rain soaked ground. Her violet eyes looked around before she crossed her arms around her ample chest. "Seriously." She flicked her fingers again, causing something near her to explode again. She crossed her legs and looked around in boredom for something else to explode.

Police alarms went off causing the voice to go off in her head again. "_We're in the world of the living._"

"No... duh. This is the world of the living." The girl rolled her eyes, watching as the police car rolled up to the end of the alley way. "This really is some cruel prank to pull." She looked to the other side of the alleyway and noticed another police car coming at the other end. "What an annoyance."

The police officers got out of both cars and she raised both hands up to flick balls of rieatsu at the cars, causing them to explode and catch on fire. This in turn caused the police officers to turn their attention to the vehicle fire while she used Hirenkyaku to move to the roof. She leaned over to look at the chaos below and saw more cars coming. For some reason she moved away from the place as the police swarmed the place. "_Why? I know I can take them on._"

"_Because you don't want to end up like him._" The girl swallowed as she moved past someone's clothes line, only to stop short and grab a shirt and panties from the line to pull on. The clothing was wet and she felt shivers run down her spine.

She finally stopped after getting a few blocks away and sunk down onto the rooftop, shriving as she crouched hidden behind an item on the roof. "_I hate the cold._"

"_That's because it reminds you of him._" The girl swallowed, brushing off the comment from the voice in her head before drifting into an uneasy sleep.

**M**

"_It reminds me of him. That's why I hate the cold and wish to have nothing to do with it." The girl looked around and noticed that she was in another cold place and she wrapped her arms around her chest area, realizing then that she was dreaming of when she was younger._

_The voice of another child came from her side, causing her to turn. Something in her mind told her that this person was male, but she couldn't see his face let alone the color of his hair. She did know that the icy feeling was coming from him. In irritation she raised her small hands and tossed her balls of rieatsu at him, only to watch as they did nothing. The other child complained then. "Bambi-nii! Stop throwing bomb-bombs at me!"_

"_It's Bambi-nee!" She found herself protesting. She felt him suddenly take her hand, causing a cold chill to run up her spine. Normally she would pull away from the cold, but something told her to not let go. A voice suddenly called from inside the building near where they were and the other child let go of her hand, running into the house in a rather excited manner. "Wait! Don't go! If you do..." He was gone from her site and things began shifting. "...the part of the dream I don't like will happen."_

_She found herself looking at Sternritter B, wondering where that someone was. "Hey... Uncle Ju-ju... where's Shiro-nii."_

"_Don't ever mention him again Basterbine."_

_She felt herself swallow. "Why? Where is he?"_

"_Dead."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because he isn't a Quincy."_

"_He's my twin. How can he not be a Quincy? He did better at me at our lessons."_

"_He could not achieve blunt. He is a failure and thus not needed. Plus, he unlike you was sickly." The man paused. "And don't mention him again. That child is an abomination, twisting Quincy abilities like he did. He's a monster._"

**M**

The girl's violet eyes snapped open. "I can't lose and if I win I can't die. I won't end up like him. I won't." She suddenly felt a cane pressing at her forehead and looked up to see an older lady glaring at her. She realized she was now in a warm room with a blanket over her. The old woman glared at her which caused the girl to look away. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"What I want to know is why a young Quincy caused such a disturbance as you did an hour ago. I want to know why you would disgrace the Quincy blood line by doing what you did, openly using your powers in front of those who know nothing of us or the spirit world. I want to know why you had the audacity to run around naked and then to steal clothes. You are a disgrace."

"_No. I'm not a disgrace. I won't be thrown away like him." _Her eyes narrowed and she glared at the woman. "What right have you to tell me what to do you old hag!"

"I am the lady of the Ishida clan. You are now my ward." The woman went and sat down, crossing her legs as she did so. "You will have my nieces old room. I believe some of her old things from when she was a child should in fact fit you."

The girl looked at the woman. "You're related to that half-breed, aren't you?"

The woman looked at her in silence. "My son and I are not on speaking terms due to the circumstances of that child's birth. All you need to know is that child was dead to me before he was even born." The woman picked up a cup of tea. "You say you won't end up like him. Do you speak of his majesty?"

"His highness?" The girl frowned. "About that. Did the Quincy win? Did his majesty succeed?"

The woman set down her tea, the cup clinking against the plate. "How is it that you're not aware? We Quincy lost yet another battle with the Shinigami. That happened a week ago." The woman watched as the girl's violet eyes suddenly widened. "You really aren't aware of what happened. Those who survived the battle are locked up in the Shinigami jail cells."

"That can't be. If that were true I'd be locked up with them. Somehow I'm in the world of the living."

The woman set her tea down on the table this time. "Exactly who are you?"

"I am Basterbine Bambietta, Sternritter E... the Explosion." The girl stated.

"So you're that child." The woman narrowed her eyes, placing her lap. "How you escaped I do not know. I've honestly no news as to who is alive or dead. I do know that the bloodline is decimated even more. I think you understand what this means."

Bambietta looked at the ground. "No, honestly I do not. I woke up naked and ended up hiding from the police. Somehow I ended up here."

"I had my butler retrieve you." The woman continued to look at her. "Let me ask again. When you say you don't want to end up like him, who do you mean."

"_Who do I mean?_" The girl looked at her lap. "My twin brother."

"I've not heard of you having a twin brother and I know the bloodlines of the Quincy very well."

"Then you know of my father and mother?"

"Nothing much beyond the fact they existed once. What I know of your bloodline record, there is no twin brother."

"How can that be? He was tossed aside when we were little because he wasn't a real Quincy. He couldn't perform blunt and died."

"I believe this brother of yours is a figment of your imagination." The old woman repeated what the girl had heard many times in her life. "If you were able to perform blunt naturally then your twin brother should have been able to perform blunt naturally as well."

The girl looked to the side, frowning as she did. "_She's right. Even I didn't begin my Quincy training that young. The dream must have been just that, a dream._"

"_Then where does your want to no be thrown away come from?_"

"_I honestly don't know._"


	9. Restless Night

**Restless Night**

Karin arrived back at the place with her father, kicking off her shoes and keeping her hands in her pockets. She looked into the main room and saw that the girls were getting ready to put in a movie. She slipped over to the couch and grabbed a handful of popcorn. Yuzu smiled at her. "How did your work go Karin."

"Fine." The girl looked at her sister, knowing that her twin was avoiding her own feelings on the matter by diving into being busy. She carefully picked pieces of popcorn out of her palm to eat, wondering how things would in fact go down. She wondered how she could possibly get along with the girls who were around her as she has nothing in common. The movie they were watching was some kind of sappy romance.

Ino looked up at her suddenly, her legs pulled up to her chest. "Is it bothering you that we're watching romance movies?"

Karin frowned, not understanding why the girl asked this particular question. "Why would they bother me?"

"Weren't you hoping to have this kind of relationship with that Toshiro person?"

"_Did I want this kind of relationship with him?_" Karin narrowed her eyes. "No."

"What?" Midoriko looked up. "Every girl wants this kind of relationship!"

"I never put much thought into it." The room became silent then, the conversation becoming rather uncomfortable. She pulled up a knee and continued munching away at the snacks. Sai choose to pick the next movie which ended up being a horror movie.

Ino shivered. "Do you have some kind of cult fetish?"

"You mean occult." Sai shook her head. "No, not really. Having a scary story every so often is fun. I guess I'll explain it that way."

Karin watched as the guests suddenly screamed at one of the scenes including Sai. Ino and Midoriko clutched each other while Yuzu stared at the screen in horror, nearly dropping the food she held in her arms. Sai though for some reason quickly recovered and began to laugh. She turned to Karin. "Not scary?"

"I've seen worse." The girl narrowed her eyes. "_Like real life monsters._"

After the movie Midoriko twiddled her fingers. "I need something to make me forget about that movie. How about makeovers?"

Ino frowned. "Karin doesn't know anything about makeup."

Sai looked at the other girl. "We could teach you, if you want."

The darker haired twin sighed. "Look... I already know about makeup. We really should have done that at the beginning of the slumber party. It's not good to sleep in makeup and there is just as much process in cleaning it up as putting it on." She watched as the girls stared at her. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

Midoriko blinked a couple of times. "When did you learn about makeup?"

Karin opened her mouth, only to snap it shut. "_I learned it from Toshiro. How do I explain that a guy knows how to use makeup of all things._" She found herself looking away, crossing her arms. "Can't we just watch another movie?"

Ino sighed. "She doesn't want to admit she's never worn makeup."

Yuzu frowned. "I'm the one whose never worn makeup. Karin and I have never had someone to teach us how to put on makeup, but I saw her wearing makeup when..." The girl's eyes widened. "When Toshiro came around."

"So you got all dolled up for him. How cute!" Midoriko smiled. "I never thought you had it in you." She clapped her hands together. "I had thought I was seeing things you know, with you wearing more girly clothing and such despite being a tombody. You're coming around."

Sai frowned. "That look on your face. It wouldn't happen to be because we're talking about Toshiro. Or is it something else."

"What do you mean?" Karin folded her arms behind her neck.

"Yuzu said the two of you had no one to teach you, so who taught you."

The girl looked at the ground, closing her eyes as she did so. "Do I really have to say?"

Yuzu began to pout. "Karin! If you found somebody to teach you why didn't you get them to teach me?"

"Because he didn't want people to know that he knew how to do makeup, all right!" The girl's violet eyes widened upon realizing what she had said. She looked away, frowning as she did so. Her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Toshiro?" The lighter haired twin. "Karin... why would a guy know how to do makeup."

" _Because Rangiku taught him. How do I explain to them that he learned to do it because she insisted that he know in case of combat injuries? I mean, that's a rather odd thing to say to people and I can't explain hollow. And their relationship. They're fukutaicho and taicho. That, and she had him do her hair, makeup and nails sometimes." _ Her eyes widened, an idea hitting her. "He learned from his mother."

"His... mother..." Ino shook his head. "What kind of sissy boy is he?"

"Toshiro's not a sissy!" Karin snapped. "His mother wanted him to learn so that he could cover up bruises from his martial arts taining as well as bags under his eyes when he stayed up late. She wanted him to look... well, not rag tag._" _She took a deep breath. "_That was a lie._"

"_No it wasn't. You heard the words Toshiro said. She was like his subordinate. You picked up on the bond between the two. They are mother and child._"

She found herself continuing. "Plus... it's there way of making up for lost time."

"You mean was." Sai took a deep breath. "What don't wwe just hit the sack. We really shouldn't be forcing Karin... and Yuzu for that matter... to bring up this subject."

The futons were pulled out then as well as the extra bed and the girls headed to sleep. Karin couldn't help but look at the ceiling, her thoughts pouring over her. "_I could have sworn I felt Toshiro under that bridge._" She closed her eyes trying to remember the last time she had seen Toshiro. It had been shortly after the fullbringer incident. It used to be he wasn't one to smile, but eventually he had warmed up and learned to smile. He had said something to her.

"_I think I'll have something for you the next time I come._"

"_What ever for Toshiro?_"

"_I don't know." Karin sighed in frustration at the way his whims worked. They always ended up being interesting, but the puzzles ended up bothering her._

Karin sighed then. "_I guess this is one puzzle I won't be able to solve. That so isn't fair Toshiro!_" Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath, drifting off to sleep. Things though were not nice as her dreams were a haze. The first part of the dream involved ice all around her and she couldn't make things out. For a brief moment she saw Rangiku's face looking very sad, but then that was gone as well. It was the second part of the dream that ended up being clear and not in the gray tones the other dreams had been in.

When she opened her eye in the dream she saw a bridge in front of her. To be exact she saw the bridge that she and her father had been under. The city scape was dotted with golden lights across the river and a rain poured down on either side of the bridge. She could also feel cold and naked. What bothered her was that she couldn't look around to confirm it, something she blamed on it being a dream. This wasn't the only thing though.

She could feel an overwhelming fear coming from herself. No... it wasn't herself that was feeling the fear but someone else. She could also feel a familiar rieatsu, but her mind brushed it away as a part of the dream, something that was trying to torment her because of her wishes for something else other then reality to be true. The rain kept pouring down and there felt like there would be no kind of rescue coming, which added to the fear and yet for some reason the fuddled mind couldn't understand it.

A motorbike was heard and then she saw a man in the shadows come forward. She saw that the man looked like Ichigo but with black hair instead of orange and blue eyes instead of brown. In some ways she thought this person reminded her of something but she couldn't place it. Or perhaps it was the person she was dreaming the view point from who couldn't remember.

"Miscalculation," the person said. She then heard the words "There isn't any time for this. Toshiro..." Karin blinked a couple of times. "What did you mean he's dead? Seriously... of all the things not to tell me, that is not one f them. Plus." There came another pause "That's not possible. He's right here in front of me. Miscaculation I need your help." There came another pause and things became hazy, almost blured. She found herself being woken up before the dream had fully ended. Ino was shaking her shoulder.

"Yuzu made pancakes. I love pancakes."

Karin sighed and went to the kitchen table and wolfed down her food, hearing Sai say they should get together sometime and go shopping. For some reason the girl had taken more of an interest in her then the other girls and it bothered her. Shaking her head she went up stairs and changed before going to her brothers room. There came no answer when she knocked and she opened the door. "Ichi-nii?"

She noticed that her brother had slept in his regular clothing rather then changing for the night. "Hey... Ichi-nii, you promised me you know."

The boy blinked a couple of times. "Yes... I did didn't I." The boy sat up. "Did you get a good night sleep."

"I think I had a dream of an alternative universe where you saved him." Karin watched as her brother froze.

"What?"

"Well, the guy looked like you but didn't. He had black hair and blue eyes."

"So, what kind of alternate universe was this?"

"I think it was one where there was a sci-fi element to it because you kept saying miscalculation."

"Miscalculation huh. What kind of person was I like?"

"A punk bachelor."

"Great." The boy shook his head.

Karin followed him downstairs, saying goodbye to the girls as she did. "_I'd have thought that Toshiro was rescued in this world, but there can't be more then one Ichi-nii_."

_Note – Karin heard the word "isan" instead of "Isshin"_


	10. Cleaning Up

**Cleaning Up**

Rangiku remained at the wake for her small taicho the entire time. She saw a lot of people come and pay their respects, but there was one person she had expected to come who in fact hadn't come at all. She wasn't sure whether to be simply angry that Kurosaki Ichigo hadn't come or to be down right insulted. She worked with Nanao to clean up the room and the few items that were left, her throat catching in part because she wanted to cry over how sweet people had been, but on the other hand she wanted to rant about Ichigo's carelessness at not coming.

Nanao noticed the way she moved. "Is something the matter Rangiku?"

"You would think that Ichigo would have come, but he hasn't." The woman stuffed another item into her bag.

"Perhaps he has his reasons."

"Reasons? I thought he cared about my small taicho! I thought that he thought of my taicho as a younger brother. I thought I could trust him of all people to be here. Even Rukia was here."

"Rukia is also a fukutaicho of the Gotei Thirteen and would have been expected to come. On top of this she is a member of the Kuchiki family."

Rangiku stopped. "You know what I meant! He..." The woman closed her eyes as she had not more to pick up. "He should have been here. I don't understand why."

Nanao sighed, crossing her arms across her chest. "Come on Rangiku. Let's go and get a drink. You've been waiting to cry into a glass of sake all day. It's a wonder you lasted this long."

The busty female tossed her bag aside and followed after Nanao, a frown on her face as she looked back at the memorial. The amount of things left was staggering. They closed the door for the night and slipped away. The next morning she awoke, her head hurting a bit. Brushing this aside she got up and headed to the division kitchens, barking some orders at the other division members. She carefully set about preparing a meal for two. One of the division members looked at her in a concerned manner. "Matsumoto Fukutaicho... taicho's gone."

"I know. I'm going to go and visit Ukitake Taicho today. There are some things I need to discuss with him." The woman slipped out and arrived at the first, being told that Ukitake was out by his koi pond. She headed towards the pond and knocked on the door. "I see that you're not feeling well today."

"It's rather hard to feel well when we've lost such a precious life." Ukitake smiled at her, but she knew it was fake. "That child had such a kind heart and such a wonderful innocence. Come and sit."

"I made you breakfast." The woman sat down near him.

"Rangiku, you really didn't need to." The man smiled at her while taking his own bento.

"I had to. There are some things I need to talk to you that really are things that should be talked about over a meal." Rangiku looked at the ground.

Ukitake paused. "So you're not just asking me about duties you need to take care of now that he is gone. There is more to this."

"Yes. I'm not saying I wouldn't turn to you for questions. There..." Rangiku paused. "There is something you need to know. Truth is it is something that will hurt you more, but if you were to find out I didn't tell you I think it would hurt more."

"If it is that important then do tell me."

"When I showed up on the battlefield I saw my small taicho's eyes Ukitake." She watched the man suddenly frown, not liking where this was going.

"They were dead because he had died."

"That's not..." Rangiku paused. "Seeing his eyes dead like that was painfully. Even more painful was that I realized how much he looks like Gin. I'd been pushing that feeling to the back of my head ever since I first met taicho. After Gin disappeared the feeling kept getting stronger and stronger. I couldn't deny it anymore when I saw him there. Ukitake... how can someone forget their own child like that?"

Ukitake simply stared at her and she looked away. A smile spread on his face and he reached out his hand to touch Rangiku's. "There are many reasons why people forget things. There are painful memories I want to forget, but at what cost?" The woman looked him in the eye and he continued. "I for example want to forget so badly that this child died and I couldn't do anything to save him. If I forget that he died though what is the cost going to be? My memories of Shiro-chan? I don't want to forget him."

"It's not fair that I didn't remember until the end. I didn't even get to tell him the truth and now he's gone like Gin."

The man patted her hand. "What is fair is that child got to die in his mother's arms rather then all alone. It's not much of a consolation, but his worse fear of not belonging, of dying alone. It didn't end up fulfilled, did it." Rangiku smiled despite the fact the tears were coming down. She watched them drip onto the floor while the older man gently held her hand and let her cry.

He said something else to her. "Thank you too for sharing this with me. It always bothered me that child had no parents. How could someone not love that child?" There came a pause. "Truth of the matter is a lot of the people growing up never gave him a second chance because of his looks, so they never got to learn how loving and kind he was." Ukitake sighed. "I have to also admit I have some inkling that there was some relation to Gin, but never could put my finger on it."

Rangiku suddenly wiped the tears away from her face. "Feel free to come by the shrine. You're one of the people who asked for it to be left open, aren't you?"

Ukitake frowned. "I apologize for such a demand being made. Despite the fact I wanted it left open I wasn't the one who requested it. There are a lot of people, particularly in your division that are hurting over this particular loss." He took a deep breath and patted her hand again. "Since you are that child's mother there is something important I need to talk to you about. There is a chance you won't like it, but you do need to know. I'll speak to you about it eventually."

A knock came on the door and Rukia slid the door open. The female blinked a couple of times. "Matsumoto Fukutaicho?"

"No need to bring me breakfast today Rukia. When I'm finished I'd like you take the dishes back to the tenth division. For now could you keep Rangiku company back?"

The female nodded and Rangiku grabbed her own bento knowing she had other things to do. Rukia followed her and suddenly apologized. "I'm sorry Ichigo didn't come yesterday. I'm one of the people who asked if the shrine could be left open, so he could pay his respects. That... and..." The small female paused. "... I don't think one visit will be enough for him even after his minds no longer muddled."

"Rukia... it bothered me that Ichigo didn't come. Do you know why?"

"He's blaming himself for one thing. For another he's still trying to wrap his head around the fact Hitsugaya Taicho is gone. But that isn't it." Rukia took a deep breath. "There is already talk about Ichigo replacing Hitsugaya Taicho in your division."

"I'd rather it be him then anyone else. Taicho would rather it be him despite the fact he was still under the belief that our previous taicho was coming back." Rangiku looked forward.

"Right there is the problem. Ichigo doesn't _want_ to replace Hitsugaya Taicho anymore then I wanted to replace Kaien-dono. Some of the captains are already talking about it."

"Does this include Ukitake?" Rangiku felt almost betrayed for a brief while.

"They discussions he and Kyoraku have had have been about the comments others have been making. That, and I asked my taicho privately about the matter. Or I tried to. He was rather closed lip about the matter except for the fact he feels it isn't fair to make Ichigo take the position just yet. Which means that he does expect Ichigo to take the role as well. Even my brother thinks so. For some reason he thinks the Shiba clan should force him to take the position. I don't understand why."

Rangiku paused. "It's complicated Rukia." They arrived at the division and stepped into the offices where Rangiku set her bento dish onto one of the desks. Her hand traced the desk carefully, glad that their world had reappeared after the Quincy king had been defeated. This unfortunately left a lot of memories to deal with. "I guess it's time to clean out his things."

"You mean Hitsugaya Taicho?" Rukia's voice strained.

"Yes. Sadly I do."

"I could help."

"No. I want to do this myself." Rangiku looked at the desk, her head then darting up. "You could though get me some boxes. Have some delivered to the captain's quarters too."

"Are you really sure about getting rid of his things before a new captain is to come in?"

"I'm not getting rid of them. I'm keeping them. Well, most of it. There is likely a few things that I think taicho would want certain people to have, so I need to make sure they get to those people as well."

"Thank you for letting me help even this much."

Rangiku sat down at the desk and carefully opened up the bottom drawer. There was a sketchbook in the drawer as well as other items like his collection of rocks. The smell of the division flower caused her to pause when she opened the top drawer. Curiosity got the better of her and she carefully pulled the papers out to see that her small taicho had take the time to dry and press the division flower to a particular envelope.

She stopped short upon seeing the name listed on the front in nice, neat calligraphy. "_Karin... what would he have..._" She slipped the paper out of the envelope and saw more flowers pressed to the paper. Her eyes scanned the letter.

"_I've been thinking a lot lately about our friendship. I'm honestly not good with words particularly when it comes to my feelings, so I finally settled on paper to put them down. I apologize for the flowers as I know it isn't your kind of thing. It felt appropriate due to what I have to say as well as the fact this is my division flower. To be honest I'm not sure about my own feelings. It feels like more then friendship, but I'm not sure as I've never really had friends. I do want you to know how thankful I am for being able to have you as a friend. It's not something I want to lose._"

The letter was then signed. Rangiku closed her eyes. "Oh taicho."

"_He came so close to confessing, didn't he?_"

"_It really isn't fair Haineko. And I'm not sure whether to call this close or not. He could mean sibling like friendship as well. Him coming close to confessing... that may just be my wishful feelings on this._"


	11. Paying Respect

**Paying Respect**

Karin fingered the pass she had been given in her fingers, her mouth pushing together as she followed her brother. It would finally be her first time in soul society, the first time she got to see where Toshiro in fact lived. Except he wouldn't be there like she had wanted and instead she was visiting to pay her respects. The whole thing honestly felt so wrong and she wished that everything could suddenly be made right.

She watched as her brother paused for a second. "Hold on. I need to get him."

She turned her head to watch her brother disappear into his room from the outside only to come out with Yuzu's stuffed bear. The toy was yelling only to be gagged as her brother reached his fingers in, plucking a small green ball from the toy causing it go limp. He then pushed it into his mouth after wiping it off and popped out of his body. He turned to the person. "You behave. You know the rules."

"You don't have to..." The fake Ichigo suddenly looked at Karin. "Wait? What's she doing here?"

Ichigo looked away in annoyance, his eyes dulled over. Karin took a deep breath. "Ichi-nii's taking me to pay my respects to Toshiro."

"That little brat?" The fake Ichigo folded his arms in annoyance, only to receive a quick kick from the girl.

Ichigo grabbed her shoulder, his eyes dulled over. "Hey... that is still my body you know. I have to deal with any damage that occurs to it when I get back."

"Sorry..." Karin glared at the fake Ichigo only to spin on her heals and follow her brother in his Shinigami robes. They arrived at Urahara's shop. "What are we doing here?"

"I can't open gates like Rukia can. So I need him to open a gate for me."

The girl let out an irritated sound as she followed her brother into the shop. The man snapped his fan. "Going back so soon to Soul Society Ichigo after paying your respects to Hitsugaya Taicho?" The man paused. "You did pay your respects, didn't you?"

"I'm taking Karin and we're doing it together." Ichigo would have normally gotten cocky with the man but instead simply looked straight forward, rather emotionless.

Urahara stood up and went digging through his things before tossing a phone at Ichigo. "Here. You'll need this."

"What is this for?"

"Regular phones don't work in Soul Society." The answer was simple for the man but Ichigo decided to leave things at that. "I'll send word for you and get the gate ready as soon as they've got the passage way stabilized." The man got up and left, leaving the two siblings standing there.

"Going to Soul Society is a complicated process, isn't it."

"There are a lot of rules as well."

A few minutes later Urahara came back, a smile on his face. "You're all set to go!"

Karin watched as a door opened and her brother took hold of her wrist in a protective manner. Her brother didn't look down at her and simply looked forward. They started walking and Karin felt a shiver run down her spine as the walls slowly oozed. They finally arrived at the glowing end and stepped through. Karin's eyes widened to see an entire world that looked like feudal Japan. Her brother let go of her wrist in time for Rukia to glomp her. "Karin-chan! What are you doing here?"

Karin hugged the female back. "Hi Rukia-nee. I'm here to pay my respects to Toshiro."

"To To..." Rukia pulled black blinking a couple of times. "Hitsugaya Taicho?" The female had a look of confusion on her face. She flinched suddenly, turning her eyes to glare at Ichigo. "You..."

"What?" Ichigo frowned, looking at her in confusion. "It's really their business."

"I'm not talking about that! I'm talking about the fact you didn't show up at the wake yesterday! Matsumoto Fukutaicho was upset that you didn't show up. She wasn't the only one! I mean, I expected you of all people to be there paying your respects. I had to make up some kind of lie about how you blame yourself and don't like the fact everyone wants you to take the position of the tenth division captain! I mean, it could be true... but still!"

"Well... it is true." The orange haired teen frowned at her while she simply stared at him. The female let out an irritated sound before motioning the two to follow them. They walked for awhile until they got to the tenth where the division members greeted Ichigo when they saw them and he came a halfhearted wave back accompanied by a halfhearted smile. Rukia rolled her eyes. "I wonder why people want you to replace him, what with how chummy you've gotten with the division members."

Ichigo flinched at her comment. "Hey... wasn't that a little uncalled for?"

Karin watched the two and noticed that they were at a small building. Rukia opened up the doors and they slipped in. "This is the tenth division meeting hall, though they haven't been using it for that since... well, since they placed the shrine in here."

The younger Kurosaki sibling swallowed as she looked towards the front of the room, noticing the massive shrine. It wasn't that the shrine was simply massive. She kind of expected that as he was a taicho. What she hadn't expected as the items surrounding the shrine. There were flowers and toys... toys she never imagined Toshiro touching with a ten foot pool. She let out a deep sigh. "_I wonder what he would think of all of this._"

Ichigo took one look and stepped out of the room. "I really couldn't handle this. He shouldn't have died."

Karin took a deep breath. "We didn't bring anything."

Rukia frowned. "Don't worry about it. The fact you're here, that your brother was able to get this far into the room." The older girl let out a sigh. "Who am I kidding. Ichigo's not going to recover from this any time soon. We were victorious, but we ended up losing so much."

Karin turned her head to the girl, only to look away. She suddenly felt ashamed of the fact she wasn't able to cry. It then hit her, something strong. "I still don't believe that he's dead."

The other girl sighed. "Karin... I know you don't want to believe that he is dead."

"I can't. Rukia-nee, I really can't believe the he is dead." Karin looked at the ground, her guilt growing.

"What do you mean you you don't believe that he is dead?" A female voice came from the door, causing both girls to turn.

Rukia looked the person right in the eye. "Matsumoto Fukutaicho."

Karin's mouth moved without her realizing it, her feelings coming out without realizing it. "How can you not know he's not dead? You're his mother."

A silence suddenly fell over the room. Ichigo had been standing outside the doorway and turned his head slightly, his eyes showing that he was shocked that Karin had said what she said. He moved out of his stance of standing there with his arms crossed. "Rangiku-san. I'm sorry. Karin imagined that she felt Toshiro's reiatsu the other day. After he died."

Rangiku took a deep breath, but the pain in her eyes were evident. "Hey, Karin-chan? Can you and I talk for a bit? This is your first time in Soul Society. Why don't I show you where taicho used to work?"

The girl blinked a couple of times. She moved slowly to follow the girl and Ichigo tagged along. When they got to the offices Ichigo stopped outside, letting them go in. "I'm not exactly comfortable going in."

"That's all right. I need to talk to your sister privately." The woman slipped into the office.

Karin looked at the ground. "I'm sorry. Ichigo was right. I crossed the line."

The woman walked over to the window, her arms crossed. "Karin... how did you know?"

"What do you mean?" She blinked a couple of times.

"You said I should know because I'm his mother."

"_Does she mean she knows he's alive, or does she mean that she's his mother. She's got to mean the second as she would be out looking for him if she thought he was alive. This said, how did I know she was his mother." _The girl looked at the ground thinking about it carefully. "When I first met you Toshiro said that you were kind of like his subordinate."

"He said that because he still feels..." The woman paused. "Taicho thought his taicho would come back and that he was just taking care of things."

"I just... had a feeling." Karin looked at the ground. "I get a lot of feelings." She felt her hands clench her pants. "Are you sure he's dead? Can't you feel he's still alive?"

Rangiku's eyes narrowed. "I know how you feel. Deep down I have this feeling he's alive, but... I think it's just me feeling guilty. Guilty for not realizing sooner. For not being able to tell him. Guilty for not being more of a mother." The woman paused. "He died in my arms Karin. My eyes say one thing, my heart another. You know how I feel, right?"

"Yes..." Karin turned her head away, leaning against the door.

She watched as Rangiku walked over to the desk in the room. "I have something for you. You don't need to read it now, but when you're ready."

Karin looked down at the envelope in her hands with the flowers. "_So this was the gift that Toshiro meant? It's a rather strange gift, but so like Toshiro._" She held the envelope close to her chest. "Thank you."

Rangiku walked out of the room. "Do you want to see the captain's quarters?"

The girl blinked a couple of times. "Why?"

"I'd like the company. Plus, it means I can spend some time with you." The woman headed to the door, noticing that Ichigo was standing in the doorway. The teen looked up, a rather gloomy look on his face. "You coming Ichigo?" The boy sighed, following after them dressed in his Shinigami robes. They arrived at the quarters and Rangiku slid the door open. "Do you like reading Ichigo?"

"Yes... "

"I'd like you to have taicho's books then." The woman walked into the room, turning to see the look on his face. The look strengthened upon seeing the number of books. "Something the matter?"

"Rangiku-san... should you be giving Toshiro's things like this?"

"I'm not a reader. Taicho would want them to be read."

Ichigo took a deep breath. "There are a lot of them." He and Karin looked around the room while he flinched. "I'm not exactly comfortable with this. Aren't there other people you know who read? I mean, this many..."

Rangiku ran a hand through her hair, pouting as she did so. "I do know of other Shinigami that read. I really don't want the collection to be broken apart though. Taicho doesn't have many things."

Karin blinked a couple of times. "_You call this not many things?_"

Ichigo sighed. "This looks like a lot of stuff. I mean, there has to be well over a hundred to two hundred books here, all of them classical literature... if not more."

"Practically everything that is in this room belonged to the previous taicho." The woman folded her arms and looked away. "Taicho could make... could have made this room his own, but instead he kept everything. Everything that was originally his I'm still going through. But this stuff... I know you don't want to be the next taicho, but I'd rather you have it then some stranger."

"The previous taicho?" There was a change in Ichigo's demeanor, something that surprised Karin. "All right. I got it. You don't want Toshiro's feelings for his former taicho stomped on, so you've intrusted them to me."

"Yes." Rangiku smiled. "Thank you so much for understanding."

Karin looked around the room, not at all sure what to think about the situation. It was as if there missing pieces to a puzzle. Ichigo's face fell, when suddenly a voice was heard from outside. "Yo! Ichigo!"

"Kukaku-san?"

"We need to talk. I'm glad that you're here today, all though I was disappointed you didn't make it to the funeral."


	12. Watching and Waiting

**Glitch  
_Watching and Waiting_**

The lights in Toshiro's room were dimmed while the boy lay there in the comatose state. Kaien's hands folded together as he leaned forward with his elbows against his knees. Everything was quiet as he sat there patiently waiting for the boy to wake up from his slumber, his mind drifting to whether the boy would ever wake up in a constant manner. There was a fear that played at the back of his mind that Toshiro would in fact not wake up, but there was also the hope that the child would in fact wake up.

He also thought about how he would explain things to Toshiro when he woke up, let alone what Toshiro would and wouldn't remember. Sighing he leaned back so that he looked up at the ceiling, swallowing as he did so and closing his eyes. A voice caused him to open his eyes back up. "You're different from Isshin. If I were to place your personality I'd say that your personality is more like your nephew's then your brothers. I guess I understand now why Isshin says that his son isn't like himself despite the fact there are similarities."

Kaien's head darted up. "I have an honest question for you. Do you have an issue with my taking care of Toshiro, being his father considering the fact he is a hybrid of our kinds and I am just a Shinigami, the enemy of you Quincy so to speak?"

Ryuken looked at the boy without saying anything for awhile. He then leaned against the wall, folding his arms across his chest. "And who exactly would raise him? If I were to take him in my mother would find out about him and insist on raising him to her standards as would the vast majority of the Quincy left who had reason not to fight in the war that just happened. Despite what my son thinks I actually do hold with my father's way of thinking."

The man paused, turning his head to see that Kaien was staring at him with a blank look on his face. "Yes... you and your nephew are a lot alike. Instead of telling someone you don't understand you give them annoyed looks that insist that they explain things better. Almost as if you think the person explaining things is being dumb in the way they explain things."

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Kaien's reiatsu bristled.

"If it was coming from my son it would be. He doesn't understand why his cousin simply doesn't just get things, but in reality it is because they think of things in different manners. If someone were to tell Ichigo that things don't make sense he would in fact try finding another way to explain things or say he's not sure how to explain it and that it just makes sense." The man looked at the boy. "I don't have issue with you raising the child. You and Isshin honestly share the same beliefs as my father and myself."

"What about your son?"

"My son is a fool. As much as I love him he is a fool. Making top grades in your classes is no true indicator of how smart a person really is unless said person is a child genius."

"And then we have our quirks and tend to act like idiots around people as our minds work differently then other people."

Ryuken turned to look at him. "Are your speaking of yourself or the boy?"

"Both. Isshin as well as Ichimaru Gin as well. People never believed that Isshin graduated from the academy early like I did. I can't blame them."

"I figured as much. One of the things that annoys me about your brother is the fact he enjoys playing the part of the fool."

"He had to. When our father died he made it his job to make our younger siblings laugh despite the fact we were all feeling sad while I took on the role of nurturer." Kaien frowned. "It isn't normal for a father to think his child a fool."

"My son thought he could solve things by throwing his life away."

"Is he dead?"

"No, thankfully. He was willing to sacrifice everything though in an attempt to play double agent among the Quincy's only to find himself in a position where he could do nothing and Ichigo had to rescue him from his own foolishness." Ryuken closed his eyes. "Truth be told I'm angry with him because he knows that this mess is what killed his mother and Masaki when he and Ichigo were younger."

"He may have known this fact, but that doesn't mean he would have figured out that you were worried about losing him as well as your wife." Kaien's tension released. "Truth be told I'm not sure I would understand without you telling me if I hadn't also lost my wife and know how it is to worry about losing ones child."

"That's the other reason I can't argue against you raising the boy. Despite not being blood related you care about him." The man then paused. "There is also the fact you're family through Isshin. My mother wouldn't see it this way, but my father would have."

"Do you have any books on Quincy that I could read?"

Ryuken's eyes widened. "What ever for?"

"I know about Toshiro's Shinigami side but I know nothing about his Quincy side. He may have questions once he wakes up and I want to be able to answer them."

"I have some books in my office. I honestly can't remember which ones they are, but I'll go and get them for you to read." The man slipped out of the room and came back after a period of time with the books, setting them down onto the table next to them. "I need to get back to my rounds. This said, if you need anything there is a phone down here in my office that you can get a hold of me. Be sure to get some sleep. You've been up all night."

Ryuken turned on the light to the room. Kaien frowned. "Is there a reason for turning the light on and off?"

"Despite the fact he is in a comatose state he can still be effected by outside stimulus. The act of turning the lights on and off is to stimulate night time and day time so that the patient is able to acclimate towards a regular schedule once they come out of a comatose state."

Kaien slipped the book with gold trimming from the middle of the stack to begin reading the book, pausing as he opened to the front page. He swallowed as he noticed what the content of the book was and began to flip through the book until he found what he wanted and began to read, swallowing a few times as he read the details. He went back and re-read the details a few times over. A knock came on the doorway causing him to look up.

"I'm here to take you to breakfast as we didn't have any leftovers. Yuzu actually didn't make dinner as the girls had a sleepover."

"You let them have a sleepover? I thought you always said no because you were concerned about their friends finding out about the whole ghost issue."

"Apparently I said yes a week ago when I was rather out of it." Isshin kept trying to put on a fake smile, only to have it falter upon seeing the look on his brother's face. "What are you reading?"

"Your friend gave me some books to read. This one is the book that contains Hyorinmaru's symbol."

"Did he give you that book on purpose?" The older twin's face suddenly paled.

"No. He didn't know which books he was giving me, just grabbed some from his office."

"I can believe that." Isshin looked at the stack of books on the table. "Let's go to breakfast. Bring that book second from the top."

"I'm not really hungry."

"That's because you're in one of your dark moods! You always avoided eating unless someone got you too! Plus... we need to talk. Not around Toshiro though."

Kaien looked at the wall. "Your friend said something about outside stimulus."

"Yeah. A comma patient can pick up thinks around them. That's why people talk to them, read to them, play music. Let's talk about this though. Bring that other book with us."

The younger twin let out a sigh. "Fine." His hand reached out for the book and he stepped out, pausing to look at the boy. Tucking the book under his arm he walked back over and brushed a strand of the boy's hair away from his forehead. "Wake up Toshiro. We're waiting for you."

The two arrived at the family restaurant and sat down and gave their orders. Isshin tapped the book that Kaien had set on the table and told him to turn to a page. "The book is a manual on Quincy abilities."

The younger twin let out a sigh and opened up the book and read about blunt then shook his head. "Why did you want me to read this? Actually, shouldn't I be asking you a question about Toshiro being related to the person they consider to be their king?"

"A king that doesn't care about killing off their kin." Isshin responded. "That isn't the point I want to talk to you about."

Kaien watched as his brother began to stack coffee creamers. "And the point."

"Wasn't there an interesting detail about blunt?"

The other man frowned. "You mean the fact that full blood Quincy can learn it naturally but those that are not have to be trained?"

Isshin placed another cup of creamer on top of the others. "What if I were to tell you that Ichigo was able to learn blunt naturally?"

"I would assume that he was a full blood Quincy. He isn't though." Kaien shook his head. "Plus, Toshiro can't use blunt." He stared at his brother as he spouted off even more pages for him to read. Kaien read through at first in a skeptical manner but went back and reread the description. I don't get it."

"Rokui Hyoketsujin. You're familiar with that attack of Toshiro's?"

"You mean the pentagon shaped... wait. This attack called Sprenger. Come on Isshin."

"All of Toshiro's abilities with his zampaktuo is equivalent to a Quincy ability."

Kaien tapped his finger. "Isshin..."

"You read that poem about his majesty. A thousand years sounds odd."

"And?"

Isshin looked up. "It has a connection to Toshiro."

"Toshiro wasn't alive a thousand years ago."

The older twin blinked a couple of times. "I forgot. You don't know squat about Toshiro's bankai or the fact there is an attack that is supposed to freeze for a thousand years."

"How would Toshiro even know something like that?" Kaien looked at his brother. "This is something you'd rather not tell me, isn't it?"

"Yes. It is. Perhaps later."

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

Isshin paused, thinking whether he should tell Kaien about Karin. "Never mind. In reality I just..." The man paused. "Truth be told I couldn't stand being around the girls today."

"Because they're growing up?" Kaien folded his arms across his chest.

"No. Karin and Yuzu met Toshiro and Ichigo told them that Toshiro's dead."

"He isn't."

"As far as everyone else is concerned he is." Isshin stirred his coffee. "Karin knows he isn't dead."

Kaien stared at his brother. "Is this some kind of joke."

"No. I'm not sure how to explain it. I believe she sensed Toshiro last night around the same time you did. She had to go out looking for him and went straight for that bridge."

"Damn." Kaien shook his head.


	13. Shiba Family Matters

**Glitch  
_Shiba Family Matters_**

"Yo! Ichigo!" The voice of an older woman caused the two Kurosaki children to jump. Karin's eyes were wide as she looked at the dark haired woman behind her brother while Ichigo tensed up.

"Kukaku-san?" The orange haired teens voice strained.

"We need to talk. I'm glad that you're here today, all though I was disappointed you didn't make it to the funeral." The woman smiled at him in a cheerful manner. Ichigo moved slightly from foot to foot in a nervous manner before following her out of the room.

"I really am sorry about not showing up Kukaku-san." The Kurosaki male followed her to another room. She slid open the door and plopped down on the pillows.

"Close the door after you come in." The woman watched as Ichigo complied and waited until he sat down before speaking again. "I'm actually not surprised. When I first met you I thought you were more like your old man, but in reality you're more like him."

Ichigo blinked a couple of times. "I'm not following."

"What? Isshin didn't tell you?" Kukaku's facial features twisted up. "Your father is a real piece of work."

"If you're taking about his relation to the Shiba clan... he told me that." Ichigo leaned back on his arms. "... though he didn't tell me what kind of blood relation it is. You said I'm more like him then my dad."

The woman frowned. She then let out a sigh and leaned back herself looking up at the ceiling. "So he remained vague about the whole thing. Typical." She sat up with a smirk on her face. "Isshin is my eldest brother."

Ichigo blinked a couple of times. "I thought you only had two brothers. Rukia didn't kill dad. In fact, she didn't even recognize him as a Shiba."

"A lot of people thought I only had two brothers. We did after all have a set of identical twins in the Shiba clan." Kukaku let out a laugh. "Imagine Rukia trying to apologize to Isshin for killing his twin brother."

The teen cleared his throat. "I have a feeling that you didn't want to talk to me about this, but instead something else."

"I think I'll start back with the fact you didn't show up at the funeral."

Ichigo's body tensed up. "Karin chewed me out about that as well. Actually... she chewed me out because I caused her to miss Toshiro's funeral as well." The boy took a deep breath. "Does Karin look like you did at that age?"

Kukaku blinked a couple of times before smiling quickly. "I honestly don't know. Your father is likely to know that answer."

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to call you. Calling you Aunt Kuraku kind of feels weird." Ichigo looked the woman in the eye. "It is all right if the girls call you Aunt Kuraku, right."

"Yes. Once I get to officially introduce myself to them." Kukaku's face twisted into a frown. "Now for what I need to talk to you about. Have you already heard that the Shiba clan wants you to take over as captain of the tenth division."

"Yeah... I've heard it and I don't like it. It's too soon to be talking about this whole matter."

"You do realize that the reason they wish for you to take over isn't just because you are captain level. They don't just wish for you to take over the tenth division, but also take over the headship of the Shiba clan." Kukaku watched as he remained silent. "You don't feel right about this."

"Toshiro worked for the position of captain." Ichigo frowned. "I also don't know about any of these duties a captain has to take care of, or the duties of the Shiba clan. I think I'd handle taking over as head of the Shiba clan better then I'd handle taking over as the head of the tenth division."

"The problem here is that being captain of the tenth division and being head of the Shiba clan goes hand in hand. It has always been the tradition of the tenth division to be handed down through the Shiba clan bloodline."

"Toshiro wasn't a member of the Shiba clan though."

"Kaien was expected to take over the Shiba clan when your father disappeared as well as become the captain of the tenth division. He and his wife both ended up dying before he could take over. They couldn't have children, so they decided to adopt Toshiro. Toshiro didn't know about this fact because Kaien and his wife were never able to tell him about the adoption."

"I don't understand. Wouldn't they need Toshiro's permission?"

"No. They simply needed his granny's permission as well as approval from other noble clans."

"They could have at least told Toshiro."

"The process is long and tedious. Adopting a child from the Rukongai is frowned upon. They didn't want Toshiro to get his hopes up while the adoption process was going on."

"Toshiro may not have wanted this."

Kukaku became silent. After a few minutes she spoke up again. "He may very well have been holding out that his real parents would show up one day. Truth be told that was something my brother and... your uncle and aunt... had discussed. They didn't care."

"So they were being self-centered about this?" Ichigo folded his arms across his chest.

"No. By don't care I don't mean that. Kaien's feelings towards Toshiro honestly are quite similar to yours." Kukaku's fingers fidgeted as she had no pipe in her fingers. "They didn't care if his parents did show up eventually. Finding ones family after one dies is extremely rare. Should Toshiro have been that lucky... they would not have begrudged him. They knew full well their place. They also saw a child hurting because he didn't have the parents he wanted."

Ichigo swallowed. "I'm sorry for making assumptions Ku..." The boy scratched his head. "What am I supposed to call you?"

"Call me what you want Ichigo." The woman took a deep breath.

"Won't me calling you Aunt Kukaku make you feel old?" Ichigo watched as the corner of the woman's mouth twitch. "See! It feels weird to call you that because you don't look old enough to be my Aunt."

"Ichigo..." The corner of Kukaku's mouth twitched. "If it feels that weird to you then don't call me that. I don't have a problem with it as you're calling me oba-chan instead of oba-san which made me not feel old. Until you had to mouth off like that."

An orange head of hair bowed low to the ground. "My appologies!"

"You're so much like him and not your father." Kukaku sighed.

Ichigo sat up. "One thing that is bothering me. Toshiro never mentioned being the head of the Shiba clan."

"This is because Toshiro never knew he was the head let alone adopted into the Shiba clan. The elders of the Shiba clan wanted him to take over then and there, but I wouldn't have it. I told them I would act as adjunct head until he was old enough." Kukaku paused for a few seconds. "This is what I want to talk about. You need time to adjust to the change. You also need time to be trained for the position."

"You're saying you'll act as adjunct head? That doesn't take care of the problem with the captaincy position."

"Uncle Shunsui and Uncle Jushiro have that already taken care of. While you have all the prerequisites for becoming a captain you still have no formal training." Kukaku held up three fingers. "I can give you just over three years at least to transition into the position. The exact time is the time it would take to graduate high school as well as college. Another three years if your choice is to take on a medical degree or another degree that takes three years. Add to this the time you need to spend with instructors in the academy. That makes seven years."

Ichigo frowned. "First off... it seems as if you've assumed that I would wish to pursue a medical degree in the world of the living. That also only gives me a year at the academy."

"I know my family Ichigo. What kind of career would you have picked had you not gotten Shinigami powers? You care about helping people. So it would have been medical or judicial. You could have become a cop, but as a Shiba you would have been interested in the intellectual side of things. You wouldn't want to be a lawyer because you would have to deal with idiots." The woman folded her arms. "The other choice you would have made would have been to be a teacher."

"I want to be a Shinigami, but you're right in the fact those would have been my career choices Kukaku-san." Ichigo placed a hand on his chin. "Ku-chan..."

"Excuse me?"

"If I call you Ku-chan I feel like I'm still respecting you as a peer, but also as my aunt."

Kukaku let out a laugh. "All right. What ever floats your boat. The other reason for the time frame is because that is how long it will take your sisters to graduate high school. This means your _father_ can take his old job back without shoving it on you."

"He may want to wait until the girls graduate college."

"Karin seems to be headed the way of the Shinigami as well and seems to be able to take care of herself. From what I've heard about your other sister she'll be marrying instead of going to college. If she did decide to go to college it is time for Isshin to let go of the apron strings on those girls. Plus... as they are members of the Shiba clan it stands to reason that he won't be the only ones looking out for their safety. Once the girls graduate the elders will be pushing for Isshin to come home."

Ichigo took a deep breath. "You thought of this carefully then."

"Yes. Not a word to anyone though. Not even about being a member of the Shiba clan. You already have the elders of the clan wanting to take advantage of you in hopes of our clan reestablishing. You being trained for the headship by myself can start that process under way. Even as a captain in training you can give orders as you see fit."

"I don't know the duties though. Well, except for paperwork. I helped Toshiro a few times."

"One of the jobs the Shiba clan used to take on was to keep an eye out for children like Toshiro in the Rukongai and make sure they have a place in this society."

"You're wanting me to give the order to have the process of looking for children who need help to start occurring again?"

"Yes."

Ichigo looked at the ground. "Would these children end up in the academy like Toshiro?"

Kukaku let out a sigh. "At this point the only other option for them is being adopted into a noble family. Hopefully though this will change. You have the power to change it."

"Let me make something clear." Ichigo placed his hands on his knees. "I honestly do not want to take over at this point. I'm untrained. I don't feel comfortable replacing Toshiro and the fact the familial feeling I have for him in fact has some actual basis makes in even more uncomfortable for me." The teen swallowed. "I think though one of the best ways to acknowledge his memory is to start helping other children."

"I'll pass the word onto the elders then."

"I need to go and get my sister. She needs to back to the world of the living for school."

"Say hello to your father for me. Tell him I say he's a complete louse as well."

Ichigo chuckled. "I will Ku-chan. It may be awhile as I am going to be going through Toshiro's books. Rangiku insisted I have them. She says they used to belong to father."

"What about school?"

"I'll have Karin pass on the message that I'm taking care of some things because someone has passed. I feel like I need to do this though. Running away from his death is wrong. I shouldn't have skipped out on the funeral and for that I owe some people apologies."

"You have grown up a lot in the last year or so."


	14. Crashed Depression

**Glitch  
_Crashed Depression_**

Kaien took a deep breath as he left the family restaurant. Isshin acted as if he were in a better mood, but something told him that his brother was keeping things from him... again. "_Seriously... we used to share everything with each other. We're twins for crying out loud. Does he seriously think I won't notice the fact he's conveniently left things out?_"

"_Your brother started keeping things from you the day he decided to disappear. He told his fukutaicho and third seat where he was going, but not me and Miyako._"

"_You and Miyako were worried about the fact you couldn't have children and the adoption. You were spending less and less time with him and more with her. It is only logical that he would have found someone like you did. Not to mention here the fact not being around him caused him to be bored, which in turned caused him to act out._"

"_He's got no business acting like the adult in this relationship when I was the one always babysitting his ass._"

"_Is he really acting differently then he did before? He's always been protective of you and you know that. The only real difference between then and now is his maturity level. Separating from you and Miyako forced him to grow up._"

"_This isn't how it feels. It feels like he's treating me like Ku-chan and Ganju. I don't need to be coddled or babied._"

"_Kaien... he's not trying to coddle you. Perhaps he just doesn't know how to react and say things to you anymore. For you there was no separation, but for him there was._"

"_No separation? That's..."_

"_I'm not talking about 'not' seeing each other. You know I'm not._"

Kaien let out a sigh as he unlocked the door to his home. He took the time to shower and change before taking the time to toss some clothes onto the counter along with the book he had taken with him. He locked the door and got onto his bike to drive back to the hospital. He stopped short when he heard the sound of a female voice shouting at someone as said female came closer. The voice came from the other side of the wall that separated his house from the neighbors.

Upon looking up he saw two hands gripping the top of the wall. "Not..." The next thing he saw was the bottom of a sneaker coming towards his face as a young female swung over the top of the wall as well as a flash of a girl's underwear. "Hey!"

The vocal reaction from him didn't prevent the foot from making contact with his face. This in turn caused his body to lurch to the side which in turn brought his bike down on top of him. He found himself on the ground with both his bike and the girl on top of him. The violet haired girl sat on top of his left shoulder and placed a finger to her lips as she made a sound indicating she wanted him to be quiet. The sound of a couple male voices came from the other side. Kaien let out a groan. "Get off of me!"

The girl scuttled back. "Shush Shiba Sensei! I don't wish to be caught!"

Kaien pushed his bike off himself and stood it back up while he glared at the girl. Her golden eyes were wide with nervous anticipation. "What kind of trouble have you gotten into this time? Aren't you supposed to be a senior in high school now?"

"Seriously! Shush!"

"You're being louder then I am." Kaien rubbed his head and closed his eyes. "_The neighbor girl strikes again. I'm going to have a black eye at work again. Why is she always getting into trouble like this?_"

"_I think she has this innate ability to attract trouble._"

"There she is!"

Kaien twisted his head around to look at the two male high school students standing in front of his driveway. The man's muscles tightened up at seeing the two students and the corner of his mouth twitched. He bent his arms so that he could crack his knuckles in a threatening manner. "So... why are you after her?"

"That girl flashed us and called us a bunch of perverts!"

"It's not our fault she was walking on the wall!"

"_She did in fact strike again. Of all the things I needed today..._" Kaien took a deep breath. "First question... did she walk past you while walking on the wall or did you walk up and play peeping tom?" He watched the two boys look at each other sheepishly. "Second question... did you two verbally describe what she was wearing?" The two boys began to fidget and Kaien cracked his knuckles again. "I suggest leaving... now."

He watched as the two boys took off and turned to look at the girl in question. She placed a hand on the back of her head while grinning at him. "Thanks for helping me out again Shiba Sensei."

Kaien reached down and grabbed her ear. He pulled her up from the ground. "I don't think you should be thanking me just yet. We're going to go and have a talk... another talk with your parents."

"Ow! They're not even home. They're both at work. And what did I do wrong. As you said, they purposefully snuck a look at my panties and even described them."

"The word is sneaked and I've told you not to be walking along walls wearing a skirt."

"It's not as if my parents care."

"I care when I get flashed and kicked in the face!" Kaien snapped.

"Pervert!"

"It's far from my fault I caught a glimpse of your..." The younger Shiba twin took a deep breath not wanting to mention what he saw. "Look... you can't keep leaping over the wall every single time you get in trouble. And I can't believe that you're parents _don't_ care when many of the times you've come over the wall involves your parents lecturing you about your actions... or your grades."

The girl placed a hand behind her head. "If I hadn't jumped over the wall I wouldn't have found a nice tutor."

Kaien let go of the girls ear. "It isn't as if your grades have actually improved."

"I'm not failing." The girl began to hurry away. Looking over her shoulder before she turned the corner she waved at him. "It's also not my fault you have a black eye! It's your choice not to wear a helmet when you ride your bike!"

Kaien folded his arms across his chest in annoyance. "I've been in more accidents with collisions with you then riding my bike! I've never had an accident on the bike!" No reply came which caused him to let out a deep sigh. "What a nuisance."

"_She's definitely a pain in the eye._"

"_Not funny._"

The man swung his leg over his bike and his bag over his shoulder. Taking a deep breath he turned on the bike and started out to the hospital. Something caused him to look up when he arrived at the hospital he saw the white haired Quincy looking at him through the window. He let out a sigh and turned the bike off before heading inside with his hands in his pockets.

When he opened the door to Toshiro's room he found the boy still unconscious. He felt his stomach churn and he swallowed back the bile. He slipped in and sat in the chair. His head tilted as the bag dropped to the ground. "_I honestly don't know what to say to him. I want him to get better._"

The younger Shiba twin didn't look up when someone opened the door. "About your motorcycle? Should you not be getting a car?"

"Are you worried that I'll be giving him a ride on my bike? You don't think I would make him wear a helmet."

Ryuken cleared his throat. "You're assuming that he'll have the strength to ride the bike with you."

Kaien tilted his head towards the man, a frown creasing his lips. "I don't think you're bringing this up in regards to concerns of needed transportation."

"No. I don't like the idea of a child riding a motorbike." The white haired man folded his arms across his chest. "I'm concerned about that black eye. Did you get into a fight? With Isshin?"

"My neighbors daughter has the habit of jumping over the wall and landing various blows depending on her trajectory. Today as I was leaving to head back to the hospital she kicked me in the face as she jumped over the wall." The younger twin noted the blank look on the man's face. "I don't honestly understand her behavior either."

"Your family has a knack of attracting trouble." Ryuken's words caused Kaien to flinch. The man remained silent for a few minutes as he looked at Kaien. "Urahara says he should have the paperwork for the child finished by Monday."


End file.
